LINCOLN ROOM
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LIBRARY
MEMORIAL
the Class of 1901
founded by
HARLAN HOYT HORNER
and
HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER
PERLEY'S
REMINISCENCES
OF SIXTY YEARS IN THE
NATIONAL METROPOLIS
Illustrating the Wit, Humor, Genius, Eccentricities, Jealousies, Ambitions and
Intrigues of the Brilliant Statesmen, Ladies, Officers, Diplomats, Lobbyists
and other noted Celebrities of the World that gather at the Centre of
the Nation ; describing imposing Inauguration Ceremonies,
Gala Day Festivities, Army Reviews, &c., &c., &c.
BY BEN: PERLEY POORE,
Tlte Veteran Journalist, Clerk of the Senate Printing Records, Editor of the Congressional
Directory, and Author of various Works.
VOL. I.
HUBBARD BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by
BEN: PERLEY POORE,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
NOTICE TO BOOKSELLERS.
This book is sold exclusively by subscription, all agents being strictly enjoined by contract from
selling in any other way. Any evasion of this plan of sale will be a trespass upon the copyright
rights of the author. HUBBARD BROS.
/.
r I AHE public favor with which the journalistic writings of
-^ the subscriber have been received prompted the publica-
tion of these volumes. Their object is to give personal details
concerning prominent men and women in social and political life
at the National Metropolis since he has known it. He has
especially endeavored to portray those who " in Congress assem-
bled " have enacted the laws, and those who have interpreted and
enforced the provisions under which the United States has
advanced, during the past sixty years, from comparative infancy
into the vigor of mature manhood, and has successfully defended
its own life against a vigorous attempt at its destruction.
In chronicling what has transpired within his personal recol-
lection at the National Metropolis, he has gathered what " waifs "
he has found floating on the sea of chat, in the whirlpools of
gossip, or in the quiet havens of conversation. Some of these
may be personal — piquantly personal, perhaps — but the mighty
public has had an appetite for gossipings about prominent men
and measures ever since the time when the old Athenians crowded
to hear the plays of Aristophanes.
The subscriber is aware that some who write of prominent
persons and political events indulge too much in sycophantic flat-
tery, while others have their brains addled by brooding on some
fancied wrong, or their minds have lost their even poise by dwell-
ing on insane reforms or visionary projects. All this may have
its use, but the subscriber has preferred to look at things in a
ii Preface.
more cheerful way, to pluck roses rather than nettles, and neither
to throw filth nor to blow trumpets.
While the Republic has preserved with commendable pride
the histories of her statesmen and her martial defenders, it is
well that the memories of those of the gentler sex, who have
from time to time taken prominent part in shaping the destinies
of the nation, should also be remembered. This work will give,
it is hoped, an idea of stirring events in both political and social
life, of the great men and the fascinating women who have
figured in Washington during the past six decades. Those
who were too well acquainted with these personal details to
think of recording them are fast passing away, and some account
of them cannot but interest younger generations, while it will not
fail to profit the older politicians, publicists, and journalists.
The great difficulty in the compilation of the " Reminiscences"
has been the selection from the masses of material accumulated
in diaries, autograph letters, and scrap-books containing published
literary matter. To have given a connected political and social
history of what has transpired at the National Metropolis during
the past sixty years would have required a dozen volumes, so
the most conspicuous features only have been here and there
selected.
Confident of the exact truthfulness of the sketches here given,
this work is presented, without apologies, to a generous public as
the result of very extensive observation.
BEN: PERLEY POORE.
INDIAN HILL FARM,
Near Newburyport, Mass.
CONTBNTS.
CHAPTER I.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS BECOMES PRESIDENT.
The Tenth Presidential Election— A Political Bargain — Election of President-^-
A Scene in the House — Inauguration of J. Q. Adams — The Adams Admin-
istration— The Mistress of the White House — The President's Private Sec-
retary— Social Life at the White House — President Adams' Daily Life —
Henry Clay as Secretary of State— The Rival Candidates— The Death of Two
Ex- Presidents, 21
CHAPTER II.
TRAVELING IN "YE OLDEN TIME."
Travel by Stage and Steamboat — Boston to Providence — The Old Town of
Providence — The Long Island Sound Steamers — New York City — New York
to Philadelphia — Philadelphia to Washington — Washington Hotel Life— Ex-
penses of Living — The Metropolis of the Union — The National Capital —
Works of Art — The Rotunda — Free-Masonry — The Morgan Excitement —
Theatrical — Division of the Friends' Society, 37
CHAPTER III.
JOURNALISM IN 1828.
Old Georgetown — The Union Tavern — A Natal African Salute — President
George Washington — Major L' Enfant — Newspaper Organs — The National
Intelligencer — The National Journal — Matthew L. Davis— James Gordon
Bennett — Mordecai M. Noah — Other Washington Correspondents — A Notable
Briton — Gambling- Houses — Senatorial Card Playing — Social Games of Whist, 50
CHAPTER IV.
PROMINENT SENATORS OF 1827.
The Nineteenth Congress — Vice-President John C. Calhoun — Martin Van Buren
— Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina — Thomas Hart Benton — Randolph, of
Roanoke — Duel between Clay and Randolph — An Offended Virginian — A
Future President — Prominent Senators — Senatorial Control of Society — The
Dancing Assemblies — Fashionable Attire— Belles of the Period — The Code of
Honor, . 63
iii
iv Contents.
CHAPTER v.
PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVES OF 1827.
The Representatives' Hall — Admission of Ladies — Webster, of Massachusetts
— Edward Everett — McDuffie, of South Carolina — Rhode Island's Bajd
Eagle — A Bargain Exposed — Retrenchment and Reform — Prominent Rep-
resentatives— The Supreme Court — Chief Justice Marshall — Mr. Justice Wash-
ington— The Christmas Holidays ' 76
CHAPTER VI.
THE POLITICAL MACHINE.
The Tenth Presidential Campaign — Election of General Jackson — Death of Mrs.
Andrew Jackson — The Inauguration of " Old Hickory" — Reception at the
White House — An Editorial Phalanx — The Civil Service — Disciplining a
Postmaster General — A Fortunate Mail Contractor — The Sunday Mail Cru-
sade 88
CHAPTER VII.
THE KITCHEN CABINET.
Jackson's First Annual Message — The Kitchen Cabinet — Blair, of the Globe —
Washington Newspapers and News — The First Lady-Birdtof the Press — Na-
thaniel P. Willis — Peter Force — Social Enjoyments — Mrs. Trollope on Wash-
ington Society — Attempt to Oust a Veteran from Office — Payment of the
Claims on France, 102
CHAPTER VIII.
BATTLE OF THE GIANTS.
The Great Senatorial Debate — Attack on New England — Webster's Reply to
Hayne — Nullification Nipped in the Bud — Society in Jackson's Day — Mrs.
General Eaton — A Chivalrous President — Theatricals — The Great Tragedian
— Minor Amusements — Executive Charity — Swartwouting — The Star Span-
gled Banner, 114
CHAPTER IX.
STAMPING OUT OF NULLIFICATION.
Rejection of Martin VanBuren — The War against the United States Bank — Nick
Biddle, of the Bank — Re-election of General Jackson — Financial Debates
in the Senate — Calhoun, of South Carolina — Secession Stamped Out — Union
Proclamation — The Expunging Resolution — A Senatorial Scene — An Appeal
from the Chair, . 129
CHAPTER X.
PROMINENT MEN OF JACKSON'S TIME.
Harry of the West — Tilt between Clay and Benton — Rebuke of a Revolu-
tionary Hero— Apt Oratorical Illustration— Daniel Webster's Wit — An Ex-
Contents. v
cited Visitor — The House of Representatives — General Houston Reprimanded
— Eli Moore, of New York — Churchill C. Cambreleng — Crockett, of Ten-
nessee— Embryo Presidents — Other Distinguished Representatives — A Jackson
Democrat, '. 145
CHAPTER XI.
SOCIETY IN JACKSON'S TIME.
The Van Ness Mansion — A Benefactress — A Popular Citizen — A Much-Talked-
of Lawsuit — A Runaway Nun — General Jackson's Diplomacy — Washington
Society — Anecdotes told by Mr. Clay — Maelzel's Automata — Condemned Lit-
erature, 157
CHAPTER XII.
JACKSON AND HIS ASSOCIATES.
Democratic Rejoicing — Attempt at Assassination — The Political Guillotine —
The Vicar of Bray — Daniel Webster's Memory — Bayard, of Delaware — The
Claytons — Pearce, of Maryland — The Classical and the Vernacular — Bou-
langer's — Location of the New Treasury Building — Hackett, the Comdeian —
A Jealous Artist — Sumner's First Visit to Washington — The Supreme Court
and its Justices, 170
CHAPTER XIII.
JACKSON'S LAST YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
Van Buren as Vice-President—Henry Clay as Champion of the Bank — Wash-
ington's Centennial Birthday — Removal of His Remains — The Decapitation
of General Jackson — The President at the Race- Track — An Old-Time Cock
Fight — Wedding at Arlington — The Public Gardener — Miss Fanny Kemble
— Cheese Reception at the White House, 184
CHAPTER XIV.
VAN BUREN'S STORMY ADMINISTRATION.
Inauguration of Van Buren — His First Reception — Departure of Jackson for
the Hermitage — Van Buren's Embarrassments — The Great Financial Debate
— Antagonism of Clay and Calhoun — An Ail-Night Session — Morning Ex-
cuses— The Graves and Cilley Duel — A Congressional Comedian, 198
CHAPTER XV.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.
The Slavery Agitation — Early Secession Movements — Webster on Emancipa-
tion— His Idea of the Far West — Franklin Pierce's Position — The Foremost
of Orators — Joseph Holt — King, of Alabama — The Buckshot War — Star
Routes — Van Buren's Titles, 210
vi Contents.
CHAPTER XVI.
POLITICAL INTRIGUES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.
Presidential Hospitalities — Social Entertainments — A Gifted Adventuress — Espy,
the Weather King — A Foreign Indorsement — Van Buren's Re-election —
The Ogle Speech — Van Buren's New Year's Reception 220
CHAPTER XVII.
LOG-CABINS AND HARD CIDER.
The Harrison Campaign — Political Songs — Whig Conventions — Great Parades
— Corwin's Reply to Crary — Crary's Complete Discomfiture — The Campaign
Paper — Horace Greeley — Henry Clay on the Stump — Amos Kendall — The
Fall Elections — Pipe Laying — The Whigs Triumphant, ......... 232
CHAPTER XVIII.
ENTER WHIGS — EXIT DEMOCRATS.
The Fourteenth Presidential Election — Enter Harrison — Exit Van Buren — The
Harrison Cabinet — Attack upon Mr. Webster — " The Salt Boiler of the Kan-
awha" — The other Cabinet Officers — Harrison's Inaugural Message — The
Inauguration — The Procession — Scenes at the Capitol — The Inaugural Ad-
dress— President Harrison's First Reception — Inauguration Balls, 243
CHAPTER XIX.
HARRISON'S ONE MONTH OF POWER.
Civil Service Reform — Differences of Opinion — Difficulty between Clay and
King — Washington Correspondents — Verbatim Reports of Debates —A Popu-
lar British Minister — Other Foreign Diplomats — Quarrelsome Carolinians —
Daniel Webster's Housekeeping — Illness of President Harrison — Death —
Funeral — The Last Honors, 256
CHAPTER XX.
THE KING IS DEAD — LONG LIVE THE KING.
" Le Roi Est Mort; Vive le Roi" — Extra Session of Congress — Trouble in
the Whig Camp — Edward Everett before the Senate — Thurlow Weed — Dis-
sensions among the Whigs — Cabinet Troubles — Congressional Criticisms —
Gushing and Adams, of Massachusetts — Wise, of Virginia — Bagby, of Ala-
bama, 269
CHAPTER XXI.
DIPLOMATIC AND SOCIAL LIFE OF WEBSTER.
The Ashburton Treaty — Diplomatic Negotiations — Speech by Daniel Webster —
Webster's Social Life — Mr. Clay's Nightcaps — Administration Organs —
Justice to John Tyler, 282
Contents. vii
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CAPITOL AND THE DRAWING ROOMS.
\ Stormy Session — John Quincy Adams at Bay — The Code of Honor — The
Supreme Court — Visit of Charles Dickens — The Secretary of State's Party —
A Reception at the White House — The President's Ball for Children — Diplo-
matic Hospitality — Ole Bull — A Troublesome Congressman, 291
CHAPTER XXIII.
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
The Accidental President — Virginia Hospitality— Second-Hand Style — The
Pathfinder's Marriage — Baron de Bodisco, of Russia — Mr. Fox, of Great
Britain — The Author of " Sweet Home " — The Daguerreotype — The Elec-
tric Telegraph — The New York Tribune — Resignation of Mr. Webster — Re-
construction of the Cabinet — Fatal Accident on the Princeton — Marriage of
President Tyler, - . . 303
CHAPTER XXIV.
HOW TEXAS BECAME A STATE.
John C. Calhoun, Secretary of State — How Tyler was Managed — Admbsion
of Texas — Douglas, of Illinois — An Able House of Representatives — An Ex-
citing Campaign — President Tyler's Programme — Nomination of Henry
Clay — The Democratic Ticket— Surprise of George M. Dallas — The Liberty
Party— Exit John Tyler, 314
CHAPTER XXV.
PRESIDENT FOLK'S ADMINISTRATION.
Inauguration of Polk — His Personal Appearance — Inauguration Balls — Mrs.
Polk — Secretary Buchanan — Governor Marcy, of New York — Completion of
the Cabinet— The Oregon Difficulty— The Mexican War — A Change of
Organist ' 326
CHAPTER XXVI.
DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Washington Society — An Old Whig Supper — Death of John Quincy Adams —
Abraham Lincoln in the House — Jefferson Davis a Representative — The
Democratic Nomination — Lewis Cass, of Michigan — The Whig Convention
— Daniel Webster and Henry Clay — Nomination of General Taylor — Letter
of Acceptance — The Free-Soil Movement — Inception of the Great Con-
spiracy, 338
CHAPTER XXVII.
MAKING THE MOST OF POWER.
President Taylor and His Secretary — Selection of the Taylor Cabinet — The
Taylor Family — Jefferson Davis — Inauguration Ceremonies — Office Seekers —
viii Contents.
,
Patronage and Spoils — The Galphin, Gardiner, and other Claims — The Tay-
lor Administration — The White House, 349
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE GREAT COMPROMISE DEBATE.
Stormy Scenes at the Capitol — Crimination and Recrimination — Taylor's Only
Message — Return of Mr. Clay to the Senate — The Great Compromise Debate
• — Webster's Seventh of March Speech — The Last Days of Calhoun — Jeffer-
son Davis' Leadership — John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, 359
CHAPTER XXIX.
PROMINENT STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATS.
Sam Houston, of Texas — Seward, of New York — Buchanan, of Pennsylvania —
Agricultural Donations — Diplomatic Representatives — Social Enjoyments —
Withrop's Farewell Supper — Fatal Illness of General Taylor — Death of the
President, . „ 369
CHAPTER XXX.
FILLMORE AT THE WHITE HOUSF,
President Fillmore — Funeral of General Taylor — Webster again Secretary of
State — The Compromise Measures — Mrs. Millard Fillmore- — A Proud Father
— The Capitol Extension — The Library of Congress — Washington Society —
Public Amusements, 379
CHAPTER XXXI.
ARRAIGNMENT OF DANIEL WEBSTER.
Accusation Against Mr. Webster — The "Expounder of the Constitution1' Sore
at Heart — Belligerent Mississippians — Painting and Sculpture at the Capitol
— Overland Explorations — A Washington Mob — A Washington Correspond-
ent, ; 390
4
CHAPTER XXXII.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND KNOW-NOTHINGISM.
' Filibustering " — The Hulsemann Letter — Kossuth, of Hungary — The Know-
Nothings — Boss Tweed, of New York — Butler, of South Carolina — Other
Prominent Senators — Exit Clay — Enter Sumner — The Officers of the House, 401
CHAPTER XXXIII.
PLOTTING FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
Piesident-Making — Political Intiigues — The Democratic Convention — Nomi-
nation of General Pierce — The Whig Candidates — Rivalry Between Webster
and Filimore — The Last Whig National Convention — Death of Henry Clay —
Contents. ix
General Scott as a Candidate — General Frank Pierce, of New Hampshire —
Death of Daniel Webster — General Pierce Elected President, 412
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PIERCE BECOMES PRESIDENT.
Inauguration of President Pierce — Vice-President King — The Cabinet — Popu-
larity of the New President — Pryor, of Virginia — Rare Old Wines — Peale's
Portraits of Washington — Brady's Portraits — Visit of Thackeray — A Copy-
right Victim — Jullien's Concerts, 424
CHAPTER XXXV.
CHIVALRY, AT HOME AND ABROAD.
Executive Appointments — The Ostend Manifesto — Mr. Buchanan at London — •
The Kansas- Nebraska Debate — Spicy Words Between Breckinridge and
Cutting — Diplomatic Card-Playing — Assistant- Secretary Thomas — The
Amoskeag Veterans, 435
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
Formation of the Republican Party — The Election of Speaker — Mr. Banks
Triumphant — Division of the Spoils — A Protracted Session — Assault on
Horace Greeley — Territorial Delegates — The Senate — The Virginia Senators
— " Hale," of New Hampshire, . , , . . , 447
CHAPTER XXXVII.
POLITICAL STORM AND SOCIAL SUNSHINE.
Sumner, of Massachusetts — The Assault on Sumner — Troublous Times — Con-
gressional Courtesies — Senatorial Wit — Convention of Old Soldiers — Social
Routine at the White House — Society Gatherings, 460
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
GROWTH OF THE METROPOLIS.
The Crampton Difficulty — Unsuccessful French Mediation — The Diplomatic
Corps — Information for Publication — Mr. Buchanan in England — Washing-
ton Hotels— The New Hall of the House, 474
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE NORTHERN CHAMPIONS.
Fessenden, of Maine — The Stirling Claim — Social Festivities— Marriage of
Judge Douglas — Congressional Scenes — Secretary of War Davis — Art and
Literature— George W. Childs— J. R. Bartlett 487
x Contents.
CHAPTER XL.
EXCITING PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
Democratic Candidates for the Presidency-°-James Buchanan — Stephen A.
Douglas — Delegates to the Cincinnati Convention — The Struggle — The Dis-
organized Democracy United — Opposition Nominations — The Republican
Convention — Election of Mr. Buchanan — Counting the Votes, 497
CHAPTER XLI.
MISS LANE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
President-elect Buchanan — Miss Harriet Lane — The New Cabinet and the
Message — The Newspaper Organs — Inauguration of President Buchanan —
The Inauguration Ball — The Dred Scott Decision — The Minority Decision, 507
CHAPTER XLII.
DIPLOMACY, SOCIETY, AND CIVIL SERVICE.
Foreign Relations — Lord Napier, the British Minister — Sir William Gore
Ouseley — Society in Washington — A Fashionable Pretender — Civil Service —
Office Seeking — Choate's Handwriting — The Governors of Kansas 519
CHAPTER XLIII.
PRELUDE TO THE REBELLION.
Organization of the Senate — John Slidell, of Louisiana — Senator Douglas
Opposes the Administration — Ben Wade's Bon Mot — Meeting of the House —
Election of Speaker — Investigation of the Wolcott Attempt at Bribery — De-
bates on the Admission of Kansas — Nocturnal Row in the House — The
North Victorious 528
CHAPTER XLIV.
POLITICIANS, AUTHORS, AND HUMORISTS.
Wade, of Ohio— Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi — Johnson, of Arkansas —
Anthony, of Rhode Island — Trollope, of England — One of Mike Walsh' <?
Jokes— Albert Pike's Wake 538
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
BEN : PERLEY PQORE (Steel), FRONTISPIECE.
PAGE
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 22
SOUTH FRONT OF WHITE HOUSE. (1825), 24
GENERAL JACKSON. (1827), 25
VELOCIPEDE OF 1827. (From an old Engraving), 30
JOHN ADAMS, 34
THOMAS JEFFERSON, 35
STAGE ARRIVAL AT DEDHAM, 38
DOWN THE DELAWARE, 41
To BALTIMORE BY STEAMBOAT 42
EAST FRONT OF CAPITOL. (1825),. . ." 45
GEORGE WASHINGTON, 51
DAVID BURNS' HOUSE, 53
JOSEPH GALES 55
COLONEL W. W. SEATON, 56
JAMES GORDON BENNETT. (From an old Engraving), 58
JOHN H. EATON, 65
THOMAS H. BENTON. (From an old Pen Sketch), 67
JOHN RANDOLPH. (From an old Caricature), 68
DANCING PARTY OF THE ANCIENT ELITE, 73
LAFAYETTE. (From an old Engraving), 77
EDWARD EVERETT, 80
JUDGE STORY IN HIS OFFICIAL ROBE, . 84
'* COMPLETELY FLOORED," 86
ANDREW JACKSON, 89
OLD WAR DEPARTMENT, , 91
FIRST RAILROAD CAR. (From an old Engraving), 99
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE. (From an old Engraving), 100
NATHANIEL P. WILLIS, • 107
EAST ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, 112
DANIEL WEBSTER, 115
GENERAL ROBERT Y. HAYNE, 116
WEBSTER'S REPLY TO HAYNE. (After Healy's Picture), 117
LIEUTENANT RANDOLPH'S ATTACK ON JACKSON, 121
xi
xii List of Illustrations.
PAGE
MRS. EATON AT SIXTY- FOUR, 123
JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH, 125
JAMES MONROE, 127
JACKSON RECEIVING THE DELEGATES, 132
UNITED STATES BANK AT PHILADELPHIA. (1830), 134
THE EXPUNGED RESOLUTION, 141
BROWN'S BUST OF HENRY CLAY, 144
HENRY CLAY ADDRESSING THE SENATE, 147
DAVID CROCKETT. (From an old Portrait), 152
GENERAL FINDLAY'S LAND SALE, \ . 154
THE VAN NESS MAUSOLEUM, 159
OLD STATE DEPARTMENT BUILDING 162
GENERAL JAMES MILLER. (From an old Portrait), . 163
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 168
ATTEMPTED SHOOTING OF GENERAL JACKSON, 171
THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY, 177
TREASURY DEPARTMENT, . 180
CHARLES SUMNER IN 1834, 182
MOUNT VERNON, 185
COMMODORE J. D. ELLIOTT. (From an old Portrait), 187
THE HEAD RESTORED, 188
CAPTAIN DEWEY'S CARD, 189
THE HERMITAGE BIRDS, . • 191
ARLINGTON, 192
LIEUTENANT ROBERT E. LEE. (From an old Portrait), 193
Miss FANNY KEMBLE, 194
THE GREAT CHEESE LEVEE 196
MARTIN VAN BUREN, 199
MAIN FLOOR OF CAPITOL IN 1837, 200
CAMPING IN A BARBER-SHOP, 202
THE HERMITAGE, 203
ORIGINAL DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, • 212
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, 214
JOSEPH HOLT, 215
WILLIAM R. KING, 216
THADDEUS STEVENS, 217
MRS. EX-PRESIDENT MADISON. (From an old Engraving) 222
AMERICA VESPUCCI, 223
AFTER THE LADIES HAVE GONE, 224
SIGNAL SERVICE AND WEATHER BUREAU, 226
AMOS KENDALL, , 227
BLUE ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, 230
TIPPECANOE LOG CABIN. (From a Campaign Engraving), 233
List of Illustrations. xiii
A TIPPECANOE PROCESSION, 234.
GENERAL CRARY MARSHALING HIS HOSTS, 236
HARD CIDER TRIUMPHANT, » 237
HORACE GREELEY, 238
WILLIAM H. SEWARD 240
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 244
CITY HALL, WASHINGTON, 245
ASHLAND, .* 246
ROCK CREEK, • • • 248
COLLEGE OF GEORGETOWN, 252
JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, 257
DECATUR MANSION, THE BRITISH LEGATION. (1841), 261
MARSHFIELD, THE HOME OF WEBSTER, 264
THE NATION IN MOURNING, 267
JOHN TYLER, 270
FUNERAL OF THE SUB-TREASURY, 271
RUFUS CHOATE, 274
CALEB GUSHING, 277
HENRY A. WISE, 279
ORIGINAL SEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT, 283
THE SWANN HOUSE , 284
ABBOTT LAWRENCE, 286
WEBSTER'S AFRICAN COOK, 287
LEVI WOODBURY. (From an old Portrait), 292
CHARLES DICKENS, 296
WASHINGTON IRVING . . 297
PARTY FOR CHILDREN AT THE WHITE HOUSE, 299
OLE BULL, 301
BEAU HICKMAN 304
JOHN C. FREMONT, 305
JOHN HOWARD PAYNE'S MONUMENT, 308
SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, 309
BURSTING OF THE GUN ON THE PRINCETON, 312
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS 315
ROBERT C. WINTHROP 316
HAMILTON FISH, 317
THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN. (From an old Portrait), . 320
DALLAS NOTIFIED OF HIS NOMINATION, 322
Ex -PRESIDENT TYLER LEFT, 324
JAMES K. POLK, 327
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, 329
A SCRAMBLE FOR SUPPER, 330
WILLIAM L. MARCY, 333
ROBERT J. WALKER, 334
xiv List of Illustrations.
PAGE
COMMODORE ROBERT F. STOCKTON, 339
THE LAST OF EARTH, 340
MEETING CHARGE OF THE MEXICAN LANCERS, BUENA VISTA, , 343
ALEXANDER H. STEVENS, 344
THURLOW WEED, 347
ZACHARY TAYLOR, 350
THOMAS EWING, „ 351
REVERDY JOHNSON, 352
NEW COLLEGE AT GEORGETOWN, 354
PRESIDENT TAYLOR ON THE STREET, 357
HOWELL COBB 360
CALHOUN'S LAST APPEARANCE IN THE SENATE, 366
SALMON P. CHASE, 367
SAM HOUSTON IN THE SENATE, 371
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, 373
TEA- PARTY IN TAYLOR'S TIME 375
"OLD ZACH." ON "OLD WHITEY," 377
MlLLARD FlLLMORE, 380
GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC, 383
WEBSTER'S RESPONSE 385
SENATE EXTENSION OF THE CAPITOL, ..." 387
GEORGE ASHMUN, 391
A Row IN CONGRESS 395
THE BRASS ROCKING-HORSE, 397
THE FAMOUS FILIBUSTER, GENERAL WALKER, 402
Louis KOSSUTH, 404
TWEED INTRODUCING BIG Six's BOYS, 408
LEWIS CASS, 413
CHAPULTEPEC, STORMED BY GENERAL SCOTT, 416
SCOTT ENTERING THE CITY OF MEXICO, 417
THE SOLDIERS' HOME, 420
WEBSTER'S GRAVE AT MARSHFIELD, '. 422
FRANKLIN PIERCE, - . . 425
EASTERN PORTICO OF THE CAPITOL, 426
THACKERAY AND MAJOR LANE, 431
REMBRANDT PEALE'S WASHINGTON, 433
OFFICE SEEKERS 436
MRS. DANIEL L. SICKLES, 444
AMOSKEAG VETERANS, 445
COMPLETELY EATEN OUT, ' 449
THE SPEAKER'S MACE, 451
SPEAKER NATHANIEL P. BANKS, 452
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW IN OPERATION, 454
List of Illustrations. xv
PAGE
JOHN M. MASON, 457
JOHN P. HALE, 458
PRESTON S. BROOKS, 462
ANSON BURLINGAME, 463
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SCOTT, 465
OLD-FASHIONED ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE, 467
STATE DINING-ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, 469
GREEN DRAWING-ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE, 471
JEFFERSON DAVIS, 476
ONE OF THE LEGATION, 478
SUTER'S TAVERN, 481
EBBITT HOUSE 482
WILLARD'S HOTEL, 483
NEW HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES, 485
WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN, 488
NEW SENATE CHAMBER, 491
DERBY'S HOOK AND PLATE ATTACHMENT, 494
JAMES A. BAYARD, 499
WASHINGTON'S CHURCH AND PEW, ALEXANDRIA 503
ISAAC TOUCEY, 504
CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART, 508
PATENT OFFICE AND INTERIOR DEPARTMENT BUILDING, 509
BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING BUILDING, 510
GENERAL QUITMAN, 512
JAMES BUCHANAN, . 514
MAIN ENTRANCE TO WHITE HOUSE. (1857), 515
Miss HARRIET LANE, 522
SECRETARY J. THOMPSON, 523
AN ASSEMBLY IN BUCHANAN'S TIME, 526
A SURPRISING DISCOVERY, 525
JOHN SLIDELL, 530
HENRY WILSON, 532
A FIGHT BY NIGHT, 533
AN OLD-TIME MAMMY IN HER OLD-TIME HOME, 539
THE WAKE AT COYLE'S, 543
LIST OF AUTOGRAPHS.
PAGE
ANDREW JACKSON, „ 36
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 49
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD. 62
EDWARD EVERETT 75
HENRY CLAY, 87
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, 101
SILAS WRIGHT, JR., 113
DANIEL WEBSTER, 128
THOMAS HART BENTON, 142
RICHARD MENTOR JOHNSON, 156
ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS, „ 169
ANDREW STEVENSON 183
WILLIAM RUFUS KING, 197
MARTIN VAN BUREN, 209
TRISTAM BURGESS, 219
WILLIAM LEARNED MARCY, 231
THOMAS CORWIN, 242
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 255
THOMAS EWING, 268
FRANKLIN PIERCE 281
RUFUS CHOATE, 290
FELIX GRUNDY 302
CALEB GUSHING 313
STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS, : 325
JAMES KNOX POLK, 337
xvii
xviii List of Autographs.
PAGE.
HENRY STUART FOOTE, 348
ZACHARY TAYLOR, 358
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP, 368
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD, 378
MlLLARD FlLLMORE 389
ROBERT JAMES WALKER, 400
JEFFERSON DAVIS, 411
JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN, 423
THADDEUS STEVENS, 434
JOHN TYLER 446
LEWIS CASS, 459
GEORGE WASHINGTON 473
ABBOTT LAWRENCE, 486
NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS, 496
WINFIELD SCOTT, 506
JOHN BUCHANAN FLOYD, 518
PETER FORCE, 527
HOWELL COBB, 537
GEORGE BANCROFT, 544
PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES,
VOL. I.
CHAPTER I.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS BECOMES PRESIDENT.
THE TENTH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION — A POLITICAL BARGAIN — ELEC-
TION OP PRESIDENT — A SCENE IN THE HOUSE — INAUGURATION OP J.
Q. ADAMS — THE ADAMS ADMINISTRATION — THE MISTRESS OP THE
WHITE HOUSE — THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE SECRETARY — SOCIAL LIFE
AT THE WHITE HOUSE — PRESIDENT ADAMS' DAILY LIFE — HENRY
CLAY AS SECRETARY OF STATE — THE RIVAL CANDIDATES — THE
DEATH OP TWO EX-PRESIDENTS.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS was elected President of
the United States by the House of Representa-
tives on February Qth, 1825. At the tenth popu-
lar election for President, during the previous autumn,
there had been four candidates : Andrew Jackson, then
a Senator from Tennessee, who received ninety-nine
electoral votes ; John Quincy Adams, of Massachu-
setts, then Secretary of State under President Monroe,
who received eighty-four electoral votes ; William H.
Crawford, of Georgia, then Secretary of the Treasury,
who received forty-one electoral votes, and Henry Clay,
of Kentucky, then Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives, who received thirty-seven electoral votes —
in all two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes. As
neither candidate had received the requisite majority of
one hundred and thirty-one electoral votes, the election
of a President devolved upon the House of Represen-
tatives, in which body each State would have one vote.
As the Constitution required that the choice of the
21
22
Per ley* s Reminiscences.
House be confined to the three highest candidates on
the list of those voted for by the electors, and as Mr.
Clay was not one of the three, he was excluded. Ex-
ercising, as he did, great control over his supporters, it
was within his power to transfer their strength to
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
either Adams or Jackson, thus deciding the election.
The Legislature of his State, Kentucky, had to a cer-
tain degree instructed him, by passing a joint resolu-
tion declaring its preference for Jackson over Adams,
and Jackson always believed that had he accepted over-
Barefaced Corruption. 23
ttires made to him, for the promise of the Department
of State to Mr. Clay, that would have insured his
election.
Mr. Clay decided, however, to request his friends to
support Mr. Adams. To one of them he wrote : " Mr.
Adams, you well know, I should never have selected if
at liberty to draw from the whole mass of our citizens
for a President. But there is no danger of his election
now or in time to come. Not so of his competitor, of
whom I cannot believe that killing two thousand five
hundred Englishmen at New Orleans qualifies for the
various, difficult, and complicated duties of the Chief
Magistracy." Many believed, however, that a bargain
was made between Adams and Clay by which the
latter received, as a consideration for transferring to
the former the votes of Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri,
the position of Secretary of State. The charge was
distinctly made by Mr. George Kremer, a Representa-
tive from Pennsylvania, and as positively denied by
Mr. Clay. General Jackson wrote to Major Lewis:
" So, you see, the Judas of the West has closed the
contract and will receive the thirty pieces of silver.
His end will be the same. Was there ever witnessed
such a barefaced corruption in any country before ?"
When the Senate and the House of Representatives
met in joint convention to count the electoral votes it
was found (as every one present had known for
months) that no one had received the requisite ma-
jority. This was formally announced by Vice-Presi-
dent Daniel D. Tompkins, who also declared that John
C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, had been elected Vice-
President. The Senate, headed by the Vice-President
and its Secretary, Charles Cutts, then retired, and the
House proceeded to ballot for President.
24 Perley^s Reminiscences.
The election was by States. Bach State delegation
appointed one of their number to act as chairman,
collect their votes, and report the result. Whoever in
each delegation received the most votes was reported as
the choice of that delegation to the tellers — one from
each State — who sat in parties of twelve at two tables.
SOUTH FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE, 1825.
Daniel Webster, the teller of Massachusetts, was ap-
pointed by the tellers at one of the tables to announce
the result of the ballot, and John Randolph, the teller
of Virginia, was appointed to the same service at the
other table. The votes of most of the States were
matters of confident calculation, but those of others
John Quincy Adams Elected.
were in some degree doubtful, and there was intense
interest manifested as their votes were announced. At
last, when the twenty-four States had voted, Mr. Webster
announced, in his deep
voice, that thirteen States
had voted for John Quincy
Adams, seven States had
voted for Andrew Jack-
son, and four States had
voted for William H.
Crawford. Mr. Speaker
Clay then announced, in
sonorous tones: "John
Quincy Adams, having
received a maj ority of the
votes cast, is duly elected
President of the United
States for four years, from
the 4th of March next
ensuing."
A shout arose from the
occupants of the galle-
ries, which Mr. McDuffie
promptly asked might be
cleared. The vote was
carried, and a young man,
who was Deputy Ser-
geant-at-Arms, mounting
to the broad stone cor-
which ran around
GENERAL JACKSON.
nice
the hall outside of the floor of the galleries, but on a.
level with them, exclaimed, as he walked along : " The
Speaker orders the galleries to be cleared ; all must
retire. Clear the galleries !" The command was
26 Per ley^s Reminiscences.
obeyed, to the astonishment of some of the foreign
ministers present, who had been accustomed to see
armed guards at such assemblages, and often to wit-
ness their unsuccessful attempts to move the populace.
The House soon afterward adjourned.
That evening President Monroe gave a public recep-
tion at the White House, which had just been rebuilt-
after having been burned by the British army — in 1814.
The two candidates, Mr. Adams, the elect, and General
Jackson, the defeated, accidentally met in the East
Room. General Jackson, who was escorting a lady,
promptly extended his hand, saying pleasantly : " How
do you do, Mr. Adams? I give you my left hand, for
the right, as you see, is devoted to the fair. I hope you
are very well, sir." All this wa's gallantly and heartily
said and done, Mr. Adams took the General's hand,
and said, with chilling coldness: "Very well, sir; I
hope General Jackson is well ! " The military hero was
genial and gracious, while the unamiable diplomat was
as cold as an iceberg.
The inauguration of Mr. Adams, on the 4th of
March, 1825, was tne m°st imposing demonstration ever
witnessed at Washington up to that time. President
Monroe called for his successor and they rode together
to the Capitol, escorted by the District uniformed
militia and by a cavalcade of citizens marshaled by
Daniel Carroll, of Duddington, General John Mason,
General Walter Smith, and General Walter Jones, four
prominent residents. On reaching the Capitol the
President-elect was received with military honors by a
battalion of the Marine Corps. He was then escorted
by a committee of Senators to the Senate Chamber,
where the oath of office was administered to the Vice-
President-elect, John C. Calhoun. The dignitaries pres-
Inauguration of Adams. 27
ent then moved in procession to the hall of the House of
Representatives, on the floor of which were the Senators
and Representatives, the Supreme Court, the diplomatic
corps, officers of the army and navy, and many promi-
nent officials, while the galleries were filled with hand-
somely dressed ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Adams read
his inaugural address from the Speaker's desk, after
which the oath of office was administered to him by
Chief Justice Marshall. Salutes were fired from the
Navy Yard and the Arsenal, and the new President was
escorted to his house, on F Street, where he that evening
received his friends, for whom generous supplies of
punch and wines were hospitably provided.
President Adams, although at heart instigated by a
Puritan intolerance of those who failed to conform with
himself, was a true patriot, and as a public man was
moved by the highest moral motives. He was a great
statesman in so far as the comprehension of the princi-
ples of government and a mastery of a wide field of
in formation were concerned, but he could not practically
apply his knowledge. Instead of harmonizing the
personal feuds between the friends of those who had
been candidates with him, he antagonized each one
with his Administration at the earliest possible
moment, and before the expiration of his first year
in the White House he had wrecked the Republican
party left by Monroe, as completely as his father had
wrecked the Federal party established by Washington.
The President, when in London, had married Miss
Louisa Catherine Johnson. Her father was an American
by birth, but just before the Revolution he went to
England, where he resided until after the independence
of the Colonies had been recognized. Mrs. Adams was
well educated, highly accomplished, and well quali-
28 Per ley's Reminiscences.
fied to preside over the domestic affairs at the White
House. She had four children — three sons and one
daughter — of whom one only, Mr. Charles Francis
Adams, survived her. It is related, as evidence of her
good sense, that on one occasion Mrs. Mason, of Analos-
tan Island, called, accompanied by two or three other
ladies belonging to the first families of Virginia, to
enlist Mrs. Adams in behalf of her son-in-law, Lieu-
tenant Cooper (afterward Adjutant-General of the United
States Army, and subsequently of the Confederate
forces) , who wanted to be detailed as an aide-de-camp on
the staff of General Macomb. Mrs. Adams heard their
request and then replied : " Truly, ladies, though Mes-
dames Maintenon and Pompadour are said to have con-
trolled the military appointments of their times, I do
not think such matters appertain to women ; but if they
did and I had any influence with Mr. Adams, it should
be given to Mrs. Scott, with whom I became acquainted
while traveling last summer."
Mr. Adams' private secretary was his son, John
Adams, who soon made himself very obnoxious to the
friends of General Jackson. One evening Mr. Russell
Jarvis, who then edited the Washington Telegraph, a
newspaper which advocated Jackson's election, attended
a " drawing room " at the White House, escorting his
wife and a party of visiting relatives from Boston. Mr.
Jarvis introduced those who were with him to Mrs.
Adams, who received them courteously, and they then
passed on into the East Room. Soon afterward they
found themselves standing opposite to Mr. John Adams,
who was conversing with the Rev. Mr. Stetson. " Who
is that lady?" asked Mr. Stetson. " That," replied
Mr. John Adams, in a tone so loud that the party heard
it, " is the wife of one Russell Jarvis, and if he kne\v
A Scuffle in the Rotunda. 29
how contemptibly he is viewed in this house they would
not be here." The Bostonians at once paid their
respects to Mrs. Adams and withdrew, Mr. Jarvis having
first ascertained from Mr. Stetson that it was Mr. John
Adams who had insulted them. A few days afterward
Mr. Jarvis sent a note to Mr. John Adams, demanding
an explanation, by a friend of his, Mr. McLean. Mr.
Adams told Mr. McLean that he had no apology to
make to Mr. Jarvis, and that he wished no correspond-
ence with him.
A week later Mr. John Adams went to the Capitol to
deliver messages from the President to each house of
Congress. Having delivered that addressed to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, he was going
through the rotunda toward the Senate Chamber, when
he was overtaken by Mr. Jarvis, who pulled his nose
and slapped his face. A scufHe ensued, but they were
quickly parted by Mr. Dorsey, a Representative from
Maryland. President Adams notified Congress in a
special message of the occurrence, and the House
appointed a select committee of investigation. Wit-
nesses were examined and elaborate reports were drawn
up, but neither the majority nor the minority recom-
mended that any punishment be inflicted upon Mr.
Jarvis.
Mr. John Adams was married, while his father
occupied the White House, to his mother's niece,
Miss Mary Hellen, of Washington. The ceremony
was performed by Rev. Dr. Hawley, of St. John's
Church, and General Ramsay, who was one of the
groomsmen, is authority for the statement that the
President, usually so grave and unsocial, unbent for
the nonce, and danced at the wedding ball in a Vir-
ginia reel with great spirit.
30 Perley^s Reminiscences.
The foreign diplomats were recognized as leaders in
Washington society, and one of the Secretaries of
Legation created a sensation by appearing on Pennsyl-
vania Avenue mounted on a velocipede imported from
THE VELOCIPEDE OF 1827.
London. Pennsylvania Avenue was then bordered
with scraggy poplar trees, which had been planted
under the direction of President Jefferson.
Mr. Adams found the furniture of the White House
Furniture for the White House. 3 l
in a dilapidated condition. Thirty thousand dollars
had been appropriated by Congress for the purchase of
new furniture during the Administration of Mr. Mon-
roe; but his friend, Colonel Lane, Commissioner of
Public Buildings, to whom he had intrusted it, became
insolvent, and died largely in debt to the Government,
having used the money for the payment of his debts,
instead of procuring furniture. When an appropria-
tion of fourteen thousand dollars was made, to be
expended under the direction of Mr. Adams, for furni-
ture, he took charge of it himself. This was severely
criticised by the Democratic press, as was the purchase
of a billiard table for the White House, about which
so much was said that Mr. John Adams finally paid
the bill from his own pocket.
Mrs. Adams won popularity at Washington by the
graceful manner in which she presided over the hospi-
talities of the White House. The stiff formality of
the " drawing-rooms " of Mrs. Washington and Mrs.
John Adams, and the free-and-easy " receptions " of
Mr. Jefferson's daughters, had been combined by Mrs.
Madison into what she christened " levees," at which
all ceremonious etiquette was banished. Mrs. Monroe,
who had mingled in the fashionable circles of London
and Paris, as well as of her native city of New York,
had continued these evening " levees," and Mrs.
Adams, in turn, not only kept up the custom, but
improved the quality of the refreshments, which were
handed around on waiters by servants.
Mr. Adams used to rise between four and six o'clock,
according to the season, and either take a ride on horse-
back or walk to the Potomac River, where he bathed,
remaining in the water for an hour or more in the
summer. Returning to the White House, he read two
32 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
chapters of the Bible and then glanced over the morn-
ing papers until nine, when he breakfasted. From ten
until four he remained in the Executive Office, presid-
ing over Cabinet meetings, receiving visitors, or con-
sidering questions of state. Then, after a long walk,
or a short ride on horseback, he would sit down to dine
at half-past five, and after dinner resume his public
duties.
On one occasion Mr. Adams imperiled his life by
attempting to cross the Potomac in a small boat, ac-
companied by his son John and by his steward, Michael
Antoine Ginsta, who had entered his service at Amster-
dam in 1814. Intending to swim back, they had taken
off nearly all of their clothes, which were in the boat.
When about half-way across, a gust of wind came
sweeping down the Potomac, the boat filled with water,
and they were forced to abandon it and swim for their
lives to the Virginia shore. By taking what garments
each one had on, Antoine managed to clothe himself
decently, and started across the bridge to Washington.
During his absence, Mr. Adams and his son swam in
the river, or walked to and fro on the shore. At last,
after they had been about three hours undressed, An-
toine made his appearance with a carriage and clothing,
so they were able to return to Washington. Mr.
Adams purchased that day a watch, which he gave
Antoine to replace one which he had lost in the boat,
and alluded to the adventure in his journal that night
as " a humiliating lesson and a solemn warning not to
trifle with danger." A few weeks later a Revolution-
ary veteran named Shoemaker, went in to bathe at
Mr. Adams' favorite spot, the Sycamores, was seized
with cramp, and was drowned. The body was not
recovered until the next morning while Mr. Adams
Presidential Gardening. 33
was in the water ; but the incident did not deter him
from taking his solitary morning baths, which he
regarded as indispensable to health. Mr. Adams took
great interest ill arboriculture, and was a constant
reader of Evelyn. He had planted in the grounds of
the White House the acorns of the cork-oak, black
walnuts, peach, plum, and cherry stones, apple and
pear seeds, and he watched their germination and
growth with great interest. A botanic garden was
established under his patronage, and naval officers
were instructed . to bring home for distribution the
seeds of such grains and vegetables as it might seem
desirable to naturalize. The seeds thus collected were
carefully distributed through members of Congress,
and several important varieties of vegetables were thus
introduced. Down to the present day the yearly distri-
bution of seeds to rural constituents is an important
item, of Congressional duty.
Henry Clay was the premier and the most important
member of Mr. Adams' cabinet. He evidently regarded
the Department of State as a stepping-stone to the
Executive Mansion, and hoped that he would be
in time promoted, as Jefferson, Madison, Monroe,
and John Quincy Adams. The foreign policy of
the Administration, which encouraged the appoint-
ment of a Minister to represent the United States
in the Congress of American Republics at Panama,
although in accordance with the " Monroe Doctrine,"
was denounced as Federalism. Mr. Clay, who had
never been a Federalist, did not wish to be regarded
as a restorer of the old Federal party, and he accord-
ingly began to create the Whig party, of which he
naturally became the leader.
Mr. Clay made a good Secretary of State, but his
3
34
Perley*s Reminiscences.
place was in Congress, for he was formed by nature for
a popular orator. He was tall and thin, with a rather
small head, and gray eyes, which peered forth less
luminously than would have been expected in one pos-
sessing such eminent control of language. His nose
was straight, his upper lip long, and his under jaw
light. His mouth, of generous width, straight when
he was silent, and curving upward at the corners as he
spoke or smiled, was singularly graceful, indicating
more than any other feature the elastic play of his
mind. When he enchained large audiences, his fea-
tures were lighted up by a winning smile, the gestures
of his long arms were graceful, and the gentle accents
A Man of the People.
35
of his mellow voice were persuasive and winning. Yet
there has never been, a more imperious despot in politi-
cal affairs than Mr. Clay. He regarded himself as the
head-centre of his party — Uetat, c'est moi — and he
wanted everything utilized for his advancement.
General Jackson was meanwhile being brought
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
before the public, under the direction of Aaron Burr,
Martin Van Buren, and Edward Livingston, as a " man
of the people." They had persuaded him to resign
his seat in the Senate of the United States, where he
might have made political mistakes, and retire to his
farm in Tennessee, while they flooded the country
with accounts of his military exploits and his social
36 Per ley 's Reminiscences.
good qualities. Daniel Webster told Samuel Breck,
as the latter records in his diary, that he knew more
than fifty members of Congress who had expended and
pledged all they were worth in setting up presses and
employing other means to forward Jackson's election.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two of the three
survivors of the signers of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, passed hence on the Fourth of July, 1826,
the fiftieth anniversary of their signing the Magna
Charta of our Republic. Their names had been insep-
arably connected in the minds and upon the lips of the
people, as their labors were united in bringing about the
events of the Revolution and its final triumph. Mr.
Jefferson was the writer, Mr. Adams the orator, of the
Congress of '76. The one penned the Declaration of In-
dependence, the other was pronounced " the pillar of its
support and its ablest advocate and defender." Mr.
Jefferson called Mr. Adams " the Colossus of the Con-
gress," the most earnest, laborious member of the body,
and its animating spirit. For the loss of these men,
though they fell as a ripe shock of corn falleth — both
having arrived at an advanced age — Mr. Adams over
ninety — the whole nation clothed itself in mourning.
ANDREW JACKSON, born in North Car,lma, March 1510, 1767; Representative in Congress and
Senator from Tennessee; Judge of thebUte Supreme Cuurt of Tennessee; Major-General; Gover-
nor of Florida; President ot the United States, 1829-1837; died near Nashville, Tennessee, January
8th, 1845.
CHAPTER II.
TRAVELING IN " YE OLDEN TIME."
TRAVEL BY STAGE AND STEAMBOAT — BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE — THE
OLD TOWN OP PROVIDENCE— THE LONG ISLAND SOUND STEAMERS
— NEW YORK CITY — NEW YORK TO PHILADELPHIA — PHILADELPHIA
TO WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON HOTEL LIFE — EXPENSES OF LIV-
ING— THE METROPOLIS OF THE UNION — THE NATIONAL CAPITAL —
WORKS OF ART — THE ROTUNDA — FREE-MASONRY — THE MORGAN
. EXCITEMENT — THEATRICAL — DIVISION OF THE FRIENDS' SOCIETY.
THE old stage route between Boston and New
York, before John Quincy Adams was Presi-
dent, passed through Worcester, Springfield,
Hartford, and Norwalk. Passengers paid ten dollars
for a seat and were fifty-six hours or more on the road.
This gave way about 1825 to the steamboat line via
Providence, which for five dollars carried passengers
from Boston to New York in twenty-four hours.
Stage books for the Providence line were kept in
Boston at offices in different parts of the city, where
those wishing to go the next day registered their names.
These names were collected and brought to the central
stage office in the Marlboro Hotel at ten o'clock each
night, where they were arranged into stage-loads, each
made up from those residing in the same part of the
city. At four o'clock in the morning a man started
from the stage office in a chaise to go about and wake
up the passengers, that the stage need not be kept
37
Per ley's Reminiscences.
waiting. The large brass door knockers were vigoi
ously plied, and sometimes quite a commotion was
caused by " waking up the wrong passenger."
In due time the stage made its appearance, with its four
spirited horses, and the baggage was put on. Trunks,
ARRIVAL AT DEDHAM.
which were diminutive
in size compared with
those now used, were
put on the rack behind,
securely strapped ; valises and packages were consigned to
the depths of a receptacle beneath the driver's seat, and
bandboxes were put on the top. The back seat was
generally given to ladies and elderly gentlemen, while
young men usually sought a seat on top of the stage
by the side of the driver. When the passengers had
Old Time Traveling. 39
been " picked up," the stages returned to the stage
office, where the way-bills were perfected and handed to
the drivers. As the Old South clock was striking five,
whips were cracked, and the coaches started at the
rate of ten miles an hour, stopping for breakfast at
Timothy Gay's tavern in Dedham, where many of the
passengers visited, the bar to imbibe Holland gin and
sugar-house molasses — a popular morning beverage.
Breakfast over, away the stages went over the good
turnpike road at a rapid pace. Those who were fellow
passengers, even if strangers to one another, gradually
entered into conversation, and generally some one of
them was able to impart information concerning the route.
Occasionally the stage would rattle into a village,
the driver giving warning blasts upon his long tin horn
that he claimed the right of way, and then dash up to
a wayside inn, before which would be in waiting a fresh
team of horses to take the place of those which had
drawn the coach from the previous stopping-place.
Time was always afforded those passengers who desired
to partake of libations at the tavern bar, and old trav
elers used to see that their luggage was safe.
Providence was in due time reached, and the proces-
sion of stages whirled along the narrow street beneath
the bluff, swaying heavily with the irregularities of the
road. The steamboats lay at India Point, just below
the town, where immense quantities of wood were piled
up, for each boat consumed between thirty and forty
cords on a trip through Long Island Sound.
The stages used to reach India Point about half-past
eleven o'clock, and the boat would start for New York
precisely at twelve. There were no state-rooms, the
passengers occupying berths, and at the dinner and
supper the captain of the boat occupied the head of the
40 Perley's Reminiscences.
table, having seated near him any distinguished pas-
sengers. Occasionally there was an opposition line
with sharp rivalries, and at one time a then rising New
Yorker, Cornelius Vanderbilt, carried passengers from
New York to Boston for one dollar.
On arriving at New York, the passengers had to look
out for their luggage, and either engage hacks or hand-
cartmen, who for twenty-five cents would carry a trunk
to any part of the city. The city then, be it remem-
bered, did not reach up Manhattan Island above the
vicinity of Broome or Spring Streets, although there
were beyond that the villages of Greenwich, Blooming-
dale, Yorkville, and Harlem. The City Hotel, on
Broadway, just above Trinity Churchyard, Bunker's
Hotel, lower down, and the Washington Hotel, which
occupied the site of the Stewart building above the
Park, were the principal public houses. The Boston
stages stopped at Hall's North American Hotel, at the
corner of Bayard Street and the Bowery, and there
were many boarding-houses where transient guests
were accommodated.
From New York, travelers southward went by steam-
boat to Elizabethport, where they were transferred to
stages, and crossed New Jersey to Bordentown on the
Delaware River, where a steamer was in waiting to
transport them to Philadelphia. This was a long and
fatiguing day's journey, and a majority of travelers
remained over a day in Philadelphia, where the hotels
were excellent and there were many objects of attrac-
tion.
Leaving Philadelphia in a steamboat, passengers
went down the Delaware to New Castle, whence they
crossed in stages to Frenchtown on the Elk River, and
there re-embarked on, steamers, which took them down
Perilous Places. 41
and around to Baltimore, another long and fatiguing
day's trip. At each change from boat to stage, or from
stage to boat, passengers had to see that their baggage
was transferred, and it was generally necessary to give
a quarter to the porter. Baggage checks and the
checking of baggage were then unknown.
Between Baltimore and Washington there were oppo-
% sition lines of stages and a good turnpike road. There
had been, when I first went over the road, some daring
DOWN THE DELAWARE
robberies by " road agents," and the mail coaches were
protected by a guard, who occupied a perch on the roof
over the boot and was armed with a blunderbuss. This
weapon had a funnel-shaped barrel, a flint lock, took
about a half a pint of buckshot for a charge, and was
capable of destroying a whole band of robbers at once.
In due time the flat, wide dome of the old Capitol,
which resembled an inverted wash-bowl, was visible,
and the stage was soon floundering through the broad
expanse of mud or of dust known as Pennsylvania
42 Per 'ley }s Reminiscences.
Avenue, taking passengers to the doors of the hotels or
boarding-houses which they had previously indicated.
When Congress first met at Washington there was
but one hotel there and one in Georgetown. Others
were, however, soon erected, and fifty-eight years ago
there were half a dozen. The favorite establishment was
the Indian Queen Hotel, which occupied the site of the
TO BALTIMORE BY STEAMBOAT.
present Metropolitan Hotel and was designated by a
large swinging sign upon which figured Pocahontas,
painted in glaring colors. The landlord, Jesse Brown,
who used to come to the curbstone to " welcome the
coming guests," was a native of Havre-de-Grace and
had served his apprenticeship to tavern-keeping at
Hagerstown and in Alexandria. A glance at the trav-
elers as they alighted and were ushered by him into
Jesse Broivrfs Hospitality. 43
the house would enable him mentally to assign each
one to a room, the advantages of which he would
describe ere sending its destined occupant there under
the pilotage of a colored servant. When the next
meal was ready the newly arrived guest was met at the
door of the dining-room by Mr. Brown, wearing a large
white apron, who escorted him to a seat and then went
to the head of the table, where he carved and helped
the principal dish. -The excellences of this — fish or
flesh or fowl — he would announce as he would invite
those seated at the table to send up their plates for
what he knew to be their favorite portions ; and he
would also invite attention to the dishes on other, parts
of the table, which were carved and helped by the
guests who sat nearest them. " I have a delicious
quarter of mutton from the Valley of Virginia," Mr.
Brown would announce in a stentorian tone, which
could be heard above the clatter of crockery and the
din of steel knives and forks. "Let me send you a
rare slice, Mr. A." " Colonel B., will you not have a
bone?" "Mrs. C., send up your plate for a piece of
the kidney." " Mrs. D., there is a fat and tender
mongrel goose at the other end of the table." "Joe,
pass around the sweet potatoes." " Colonel E., will
you help to that chicken-pie before you ?"
The expense of living at the Indian Queen was not
great. The price of board was one dollar and seventy-
five cents per day, ten dollars per week, or thirty-five
dollars per month. Transient guests were charged
fifty cents for breakfast, the same for supper, and
seventy-five cents for dinner. Brandy and whisky
were placed on the dinner-table in decanters, to be
drunk by the guests without additional charge therefor.
A bottle of real old Madeira imported into Alexandria
44 Per ley's Reminiscences.
was supplied for three dollars ; sherry, brandy, and gin
were one dollar and a half per bottle, and Jamaica rum
one dollar. At the bar toddies were made with unadul-
terated liquor and lump sugar, and the charge was
twelve and a half cents a drink.
On the Fourth of July, the 2 ad of February, and
other holidays, landlord Brown would concoct foaming
egg-nogg in a mammoth punch-bowl once owned by
Washington, and the guests of the house were all
invited to partake. The tavern-desk was behind the
bar, with rows of large bells hanging by circular
springs on the wall, each with a bullet-shaped tongue,
which continued to vibrate for some minutes after being
pulled, thus showing to which room it belonged. The
barkeeper prepared the '" drinks " called for, saw that
the bells were answered, received and delivered letters
and cards, and answered questions by the score. He
was supposed to know everybody in Washington, where
they resided, and at what hour they could be seen.
The city of Washington had then been called by an
observing foreigner " the city of magnificent distances,"
an appellation which was well merited. There was a
group of small, shabby houses around the Navy Yard,
another cluster on the river bank just above the
Arsenal, which was to have been the business centre of
the metropolis, and Pennsylvania Avenue, from the
Capitol to Georgetown, with the streets immediately
adjacent, was lined with tenements — many of them
with shops on the ground floor. The Executive De-
partments were located in four brick edifices on the
corners of the square, in the centre of which was the
White House. The imposing building now occupied
by the Department of the Interior had not been begun,
nor had the General Post-Office replaced a large brick
Completion of the Old Capitol.
45
structure intended for a hotel, but which the pecuniary
necessities of the projector forced him to dispose of in
a lottery before it was completed. The fortunate ticket
was held by minors, whose guardian could neither sell
the building nor finish it, and it remained for many
years in a dilapidated condition.
The Capitol was pronounced completed in 1825. The
two wings, which were the only portions of the build-
ing finished when the British occupied Washington,
were burned, with their contents, including the Con-
gressional Library and some works of art. When
EAST FRONT OF THE CAPITOL
Congress was convened in special session after the
invasion, the two Houses assembled in the unfinished
hotel previously mentioned, but soon occupied a brick
building erected for their temporary use, which was
afterward known as the Old Capitol Prison.
The tympanum of the eastern pediment of the Capi-
tol was ornamented by a historical group which Mr.
John Quincy Adams designed when Secretary of State.
It was executed in marble by L/uigi Persico, an Italian
sculptor, whose work gave such satisfaction to Mr.
Adams that he secured for him an order for the two
colossal statues which now flank the central doorway.
46 Perley's Reminiscences.
War is represented by a stalwart gymnast with a pro-
fuse development of muscle and a benign expression
of countenance, partially encased in ancient Roman
armor, while Peace is a matronly dame, somewhat ad-
vanced in life and heavy in flesh, who carries an olive-
branch as if she desired to use it to keep off flies.
The then recently completed rotunda of the Capitol —
Mr. Gales took pains to have it called rotundo in the
National Intelligencer — was a hall of elegant propor-
tions, ninety-six feet in diameter and ninety-six
feet in height to the apex of its semicircular
dome. It had been decorated with remarkable
historical bas-reliefs by Cappellano, Gevelot, and Caus-
ici, three Italian artists — two of them pupils of Canova.
They undoubtedly possessed artistic ability and they
doubtless desired to produce works of historical value.
But they failed ignominiously. Their respective pro-
ductions were thus interpreted by Grizzly Bear, a Men-
ominee chief. Turning to the eastern doorway, over
which there is represented the landing of the Pilgrims,
he said : " There Ingen give hungry white man corn."
Then turning to the northern doorway, over which is
represented William Penn making a treaty with the
Indians, he said : " There Ingen give white man land."
Then turning to the western doorway, over which is
represented Pocahontas saving the life of Captain
Smith, he said : " There Ingen save white man's life."
And then turning to the Southern doorway, over
which is represented Daniel Boone, the pioneer, plung-
ing his hunting-knife into the heart of a red man
while his foot rests on the dead body of another, he
said : " And there white man kill Ingen. Ugh !"
When Congress was in session, the rotunda pre-
sented a busy and motley scene every morning prior to
Free-Masonry in Washington. 47
the convening of the two houses. It was a general
rendezvous, and the newspaper correspondents were
always in attendance to pick up the floating rumors of
the day from their friendly men among the members of
either house. Lobbyists also congregated there to
combine or disperse forces and to button-hole their
men. Every man with a bill on hand was early on the
scene to catch a word with those likely to favor or
oppose his schemes, and, if possible, to pick up some
convert to his side. The nation's great men mingled
there with the plebeians, and the rich and the poor met
together in fulfillment of ancient prophecy. Sight-
seers, too, from all parts of the country, were always
numerous at this great centre.
The visit of General Lafayette to Washington gave
a great impetus to Free-Masonry there. The corner-
stone of a new Masonic Temple was laid, and many of
the leading citizens had taken the degrees, when the
rumored abduction of William Morgan was made the
basis of a political and religious anti-Masonic crusade.
It was asserted that Morgan, who had written and
printed a book which professed to reveal the secrets of
Free-Masonry, had been kidnapped, taken to Fort
Niagara, and then plunged into the river, " with all his
imperfections on his head.".
Many well-informed persons, however, are decidedly
of the opinion that Morgan was hired to go to Smyrna,
where he lived some years, and then died ; but his
real or supposed assassination awakened a profound
popular indignation. Some good men who belonged
to the " mystic tie " felt it their duty to dissolve
their connection with it, and the anti-Masonic party
was at once got up by a goodly number of hopeful
political aspirants. As General Jackson and Mr. Clay
48 Perlejfs Reminiscences.
were both. " Free and Accepted Masons," Mr. Adams
had at first some hopes that he might secure his own
re-election as the Anti-Masonic candidate.
A small theatre at Washington was occasionally
opened by a company of actors from Philadelphia, who
used to journey every winter as far south as Savannah,
performing in the intermediate cities as they went and
returned. The Jeffersons, the Warrens, and the
Burkes belonged to this company, in which their chil-
dren were trained for histrionic fame, and President
Adams first saw the elder Booth when that tragedian
accompanied one of these dramatic expeditions as its
brightest star. On another occasion he saw Edwin
Forrest, then unknown to fame, and enjoyed the finished
acting of Cooper, as Charles Surface, in the "School for
Scandal." The popular performance at that time was
'• Tom and Jerry, or Life in London," and the flash
sayings of Corinthian Tom and Bob Logic were quoted
even in Congressional debates.
The Friends, or Quakers, as " the world's people "
call them, had a society at Washington formed princi-
pally by the clerks of that persuasion who had come
from Philadelphia when the seat of government was
removed from there. Their harmony was, however,
disturbed in 1827, wnen a number of the most influen-
tial among them left the " Orthodox " or old belief and
followed BHas Hicks, of New York, who founded what
has since been known as Hicksite Friends. The
Friends believed in a free gospel ministry, and did not
recognize either water-baptism or the ordinance of the
Lord's Supper. . At their meetings the elders and
preachers occupied a platform at one end of the meet-
ing-houses, the men sitting on unpainted benches on
one side and the women on the other. The con-
Old Time Quakers. 49
gregation would sit quietly, often for an hour, until the
Spirit moved some preacher, male or female, to speak
or to offer prayer. There was no singing, and often
long intervals of silence. Marriages were solemnized
at the monthly meetings, the ceremony consisting
simply of a public acknowledgment by the man and
woman, after due inquiry of their right to be united.
After they had stood up in meeting and publicly taken
one another to be man and wife, a certificate of the
ceremony was publicly read by one of the elders, and
then signed by the contracting parties and witnesses.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS— son of John Adams — was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, July nth,
1767; Minister to the Netherlands and Prussia, 1794-1801; United States Senator, 1803-1808; Pro-
fessorat Harvard College, 1808-1809; Minister to Russia, 1809-1817; negotiating the treaty of Ghent
in 1815; Secretary of State, 1817-1825; President, 1825-1829 ; Representative in Congress, 1831, untU
stricken by death in the Capitol, February 2jd, 1848.
CHAPTER III.
JOURNALISM IN 1828.
OLD Gf-ORGETOWN — THE UNION TAVERN — A NATAL AFRICAN SALUTE —
PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON — MAJOR L'ENFANT — NEWSPAPER
ORGANS — THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER— THE NATIONAL JOURNAL
— MATTHEW L. DAVIS — JAMES GORDON BENNETT — MORDECAI M. NOAH
— OTHER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENTS — A NOTABLE BRITON — GAM-
BLING HOUSES — SENATORIAL CARD-PLAYING — SOCIAL GAMES OF WHIST.
GEORGETOWN, now called " West . Washing-
ton," was originally laid out as a town in
1751, and settled by the Scotch agents of En-
glish mercantile houses, whose vessels came annually
to its wharves. They brought valuable freights of
hardware, dry goods, and wines, and they carried back
tobacco, raised in the surrounding country, and furs,
brought down the Potomac by Indian traders. There
were also lines of brigs and schooners running to New
York, Boston, Salem, Newburyport, and the West
Indies. Two principal articles of import were sugar
and molasses, which were sold at auction on the wharves.
Business in these staples has been entirely superseded
by the coal and flour trade.
The main street of Georgetown was generally filled
every week-day with the lumbering Conestoga six-horse
wagons, in which the farmers of Maryland and Central
Pennsylvania brought loads of wheat and of corn,
taking back dry goods, groceries, salt, and, during the
fishing season, fresh shad and herring. Another source
5°
Navigating the Potomac. 51
of trade was the Potomac River, which was navigable
above Georgetown as far as Cumberland in long, flat-
bottomed boats, sharp at both ends, called " gondolas."
These boats were poled down the Potomac to the Great
Falls, twelve miles above Georgetown, where a canal
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
with locks was constructed, running around the falls
and back to the river. The same plan of avoiding the
rapids was suggested by George Washington, who was
once president of the company. The canal was finished
in 1793, but it never yielded a sufficient revenue to
pay expenses.
LIBRARY
52 Per ley's Reminiscences.
The " gondolas " brought down considerable quanti-
ties of flour, corn, pork, and iron, much of which was
shipped at Georgetown to other ports. During the
year 1812 several hundred hogsheads cf Louisiana
sugar were brought by the way of the Mississippi, the
Ohio, and the Potomac Rivers, to Georgetown. This
was a realization of Washington's idea that the city
which he founded and which bore his name would
become an entrepot for the products of the Mississippi
Valley destined for shipment abroad. He displayed his
faith in this belief by the purchase of wharf lots, which
would not to-day bring what he paid for them.
The Union Tavern at Georgetown was a well-patron-
ized and fashionable inn during the first quarter of the
present century. Among the distinguished men who
were its guests were Louis Philippe, Count Volney,
Baron Humboldt, Fulton (the inventor), Talleyrand,
Jerome Bonaparte, Washington Irving, General St.
Clair, Lorenzo Dow (the eccentric preacher), Francis S.
Key (author of the u Star Spangled Banner"), with
John Randolph and scores of other Congressmen, who
used to ride to and from the Capitol in a large stage-
coach with seats on the top and called the ** Royal
George."
When my mother was born at Georgetown, in 1799,
the neighbors were startled by the repeated firing of a
heavily charged musket beneath the window of her
mother's room. It was a welcome-into-the-world salute
£red by " Old Yarrah," a very aged Mahometan, who
had been brought as a slave from Guinea to George-
town, where my grandfather had shown him some
kindness, which he thus acknowledged after the custom
of his own people.
General Washington used to pass through George-
David Burns' Donations. '53
town on his journeys between the North and Mount
Vernon, and I have heard my grandfather describe the
interest which he took when the " Federal City " was
located. On one occasion he rode over to visit David
Burns, who owned a farm, on which the Executive
Mansion and the Departments now stand. Washing-
DAVID BURNS' HOME.
ton agreed with the Commissioners that what is now
Lafayette Square should be a reservation, but Burns
disliked to donate any more building lots for the public
good. Finally Washington lost his temper and left,
saying, as he crossed the porch : " Had not the Federal
City been laid out here, you would have died a poor
54 Perley's Reminiscences.
tobacco planter." "Aye, mon!" retorted Burns, in
broad Scotch, " an' had ye nae married the widow
Custis, wi' a' her nagurs, you would hae been a land
surveyor to-day, an' a mighty poor ane at that." Ulti-
mately, however, the obstinate old fellow donated the
desired square of ground.
When Major I/ Enfant came to Georgetown to lay
out the Federal District he brought a letter of introduc-
tion to my grandfather, who had a great deal of trouble
in endeavoring to adjust the difficulties between the
fiery French officer and the Commissioners appointed
to govern the infant metropolis. The Major, who was
very imperious, claimed supreme authority, which the
Commissioners would not submit to. On one occasion
a Mr. Carroll had commenced the erection of a large
brick house, which Major L'Bnfant found encroached
on one of the proposed streets. Summoning his chain
bearers and axmen, he demolished the trespassing
structure and filled up the cellar, against Mr. Carroll's
earnest protests.
He was a favorite with Washington, but Jefferson
disliked him on account of his connection with the
Society of the Cincinnati, and availed himself of his
difficulty with the Commissioners to discharge him.
The Major then became an unsuccessful petitioner
before Congress for a redress of his real and fancied
wrongs, and he was to be seen almost every day slowly
pacing the rotunda of the Capitol. He was a tall, thin
man, who wore, toward the close of his life, a blue
military surtout coat, buttoned quite to the throat, with
a tall, black stock, but no visible signs of linen. His
hair was plastered with pomatum close to his head, and
he wore a napless high beaver bell-crowned hat. Un-
der his arm he generally carried a roll of papers rela-
Newspaper Organs.
55
ting to his claim upon the Government, and in his
right hand he swung a formidable hickory cane with
a large silver head. A strict Roman Catholic, he re-
ceived a home in the family of Mr. Digges, near Wash-
ington, in whose garden his remains were interred
when he died.
Newspaper " organs " formed an important feature
of the early political machinery at Washington. Rail-
roads, as well as the
magnetic telegraph,
were then unknown,
and it took two days
or more for the trans-
mission of intelligence
between the Federal
Metropolis and New
York, while it was a
week or two in reach-
ing Portland,St. Louis,
New Orleans, or Sa-
vannah. This made
it advisable for each
successive Adminis-
tration to have a news-
paper published at
Washington which would reliably inform the subordi-
nate officials what was being done and keep alive a
sympathy between them and the President.
The National Intelligencer was never devoted to Mr.
Adams, as its proprietor had a. kind regard for Mr.
Clay, but it was always hostile to the election of Gen-
eral Jackson. Mr. Joseph Gales, its editor, wrote pon-
derous leaders on the political questions of the day,
and occasionally reported, in short-hand, the speeches
JOSEPH GALES.
Perley^s Reminiscences.
of Congressional magnates. His partner, Colonel
William Winstead Seaton, was by trade a printer, and
his generous hand was ever ready to aid those of his
fellow-craftsmen who were in destitute circumstances —
indeed, the superannuated compositors of the National
Intelligencer always received "half pay." Coming here
when Washington was only just " staked out," he was
honorably identified with the growth of Washington
City, and his administration as Mayor is favorably
spoken of by the citizens of all classes and parties.
The National Jour-
nal had been estab-
lished as a Calhoun
organ, with John Agg,
an Englishman of
great ability, as its
editor, and Richard
Houghton, aftenvard
the popular editor of
the Boston Atlas, as
its Congressional re-
porter. In 1825 tne
paper was purchased
by Peter Force and
became the " hand-
COLONEL W. W. SEATON.
organ " of all the ele-
ments of opposition to
General Jackson. Such abusive articles and scurrilous
remarks as the dignified National Intelligencer would
not publish appeared in the National Journal. Some
of these articles reflected upon Mrs. Jackson and gave
great offense to her husband, who was persuaded that
they were inspired by President Adams.
Matthew L. Davis, who was probably the most influ-
Correspondents in Washington. 57
ential of Washington correspondents, was a New York
printer. He had entered political -life in 1790 and
joined the Democratic party, which came into power by
the election of Jefferson as President and Burr as Vice-
President. Davis went to Washington shortly after-
ward, and was boasting that the elevation of Mr.
Jefferson was brought about solely by the manage-
ment of Tammany Hall. Mr. Jefferson was a philos-
opher, and soon after caught a very large fly, calling the
attention of Mr. Davis to the remarkable fact of the
great disproportion in size of one portion of the insect
to its body. Mr. Davis took the hint, and left the Presi-
dent, in doubt as to whether Mr. Jefferson intended
the comparison to apply to New York or to him (Davis)
as an individual.
Mr. Davis was at one time wealthy, having cleared
over one hundred thousand dollars in the South Ameri-
can trade ; but he became poor, and for many years he
was the correspondent at Washington of the Courier
and Enquirer, of New York, under the signature of
"The Spy in Washington." He was also the corres-
pondent of the Ivondon Times, under the signature of
"The Genevese Traveler." On one occasion Mr. Davis
was presented to the British Minister at Washington
(Lord Ashburton) as the author of those letters in the
Times. "I am delighted to see you," said the Envoy.
"They are extraordinary letters. I have read them
with great pleasure. I hope, sir, that you are well paid
by the Times. If not, sir, let me know it ; I will take
care that you are paid handsomely." Mr. Davis begged
not to be misunderstood, and said that he was amply
paid by the Times. He received two guineas for each
letter.
James Gordon Bennett in 1828, when in his thirtieth
58 • Parley's Reminiscences.
year, became the Washington correspondent of the
New York Enquirer, >vhich was then on the topmost
round of the journalistic ladder. It is related of him
that during his stay in this position he came across a
copy of WalpoWs Letters and resolved to try the effect
of a few letters written in a similar strain. The truth
of this is doubtful. It is more probable that the
natural talents of the man were now unfettered, and he
wrote without fear of censorship and with all the ease
which a sense of freedom inspires. He was naturally
witty, sarcastic, and sensible. These letters were lively,
they abounded in personal allusions, and they described
freely, not only Senators, but the wives and daughters
of Senators, and they established Mr. Bennett's reputa-
tion as a light lance among the hosts of writers.
The Enquirer and the Courier were soon after com-
bined, and Mr. Bennett continued to write in the edi-
torial department of the united journal, and in the
same year became its associate editor. In 1831 he co-
operated zealously with General Jackson and the Dem-
ocrats in opposing the rechartering of the United
States Bank. Mr. Bennett made his first personal
venture as a newspaper publisher in the New York
Globe, which was issued just one month, advocat-
ing the cause of Jackson and Van Buren. For a time
Mr. Bennett then was interested in a Philadelphia
paper, the Pennsylvania*, after which came his monu-
mental life work, the New York Herald.
Major M. M. Noah was for many years a leading
New York journalist, who occasionally visited Wash-
ington, where he was always welcome. Major Noah
was born in Philadelphia, where he was apprenticed, as
he grew up, to learn the carver's trade, but he soon
abandoned it for political pursuits. Receiving the ap-
Prominent Newspaper Men. 59
pointment of Consul to Tunis, he passed several years
in Northern Africa, and on his return wrote a very
clever book containing his souvenirs of travel. About
the year 1825 ne conceived the idea of collecting the scat-
tered Jews and of rebuilding Jerusalem. Grand Island,
in the Niagara River, above Niagara Falls, was desig-
nated as the rendezvous, and Major Noah's proclama-
tion, which he sent to all parts of the world, created
quite a sensation among the Children of Israel. He
subsequently was connected with the evening press of
New York and was then appointed to a Government
office by President Jackson. He was a man of fine
personal appearance and great conversational powers.
Another New York journalist, just coming before
the public, was Thurlow Weed, a tall man, with an
altogether massive person. His large head was at that
time covered with dark hair, and he had prominent
features and gray eyes, which were watchful and over-
hung by shaggy eyebrows. He was a man of great
natural strength of character, deep penetration as
regards human nature, and a good sense, judgment, and
cheerfulness in his own characteristics which conduced
to respect and popularity. He was most happy in his
intercourse 'with men, for he had, when a mere youth,
a geniality and tact which drew all toward him, and it
has been said that he never forgot a face or a fact.
There has never been a better example of the good old
stock of printer-editors, who seemed to have an intu-
itive capacity for public affairs, and never to love
political success well enough to leave their newspapers
in order to pursue the glittering attraction of public
life.
Among the other newspaper men in Washington
were William Hayden, Congressional reporter for the
60 Perley^s Reminiscences.
National Intelligencer, who afterward succeeded Mr.
Houghton as editor of the Boston Atlas; L,und Wash-
ington, equally famed as a performer on the violin and a
writer of short-hand ; Samuel L. Knapp, a graduate
of Dartmouth College, who abandoned the law for
journalism and corresponded with the Boston Gazette,
and James Brooks, a graduate of Waterville, afterward
the founder of the New York Express and a Represen-
tative in Congress, who was the correspondent of the
Portland Advertiser and other papers.
Prominent as an adopted citizen of Washington and
as a personal friend of President Adams was Dr. Wil-
liam F. Thornton, Superintendent of the Patent Office,
who had by personal appeals to his conquering country-
men, in 1814, saved the models of patents from 'the
general conflagration of the public buildings. He
was also a devoted lover of horse-racing, and on one
occasion, when he expected that a horse of his would
win the cup, Mr. Adams walked out to the race-course
to enjoy the Doctor's triumph, but witnessed his defeat.
After the death of Dr. Thornton and of his accom-
plished wife, it became known that she was the daughter
of the unfortunate Dr. Dodd, of London, who was
executed for forgery in 1777. Her mother emigrated
to Philadelphia soon afterward, under the name of
Brodeau, and brought her infant daughter with her.
In Philadelphia she opened a boarding-school, which
was liberally patronized, as she had brought excellent
letters of recommendation and displayed great ability
as a teacher. The daughter grew up to be a lady
remarkable for her beauty and accomplishments and
married Dr. Thornton, who brought her to Washington
in 1800.
Congress had placed on the statute-book stringent
Gamblers and Gambling. 61
penal laws against gambling, but they were a dead
letter, unless some poor dupe made a complaint of foul
play, or some fleeced blackleg sought vengeance through
the aid of the Grand Jury ; then the matter was usually
compounded by the repayment of the money. The
northern sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue, between
the Indian Queen Hotel and the Capitol gate, was lined
with faro banks, where good suppers were served and
well-supplied sideboards were free to all comers. It
was a tradition that in one of these rooms Senator
Moiitford Stokes, of North Carolina, sat down one
Thursday afternoon to play a game of brag with Mont-
joy Bailey, then the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate.
That body had adjourned over, as was then its custom,
from Thursday until Monday, so the players were at
liberty to keep on with their game, only stopping oc-
casionally for refreshments. The game was continued
Friday night and Saturday, through Saturday night and
all day Sunday and Sunday night, the players resting for
a snatch of sleep as nature became exhausted. Monday
morning the game was in full blast, but at ten o'clock
Bailey moved an adjournment, alleging that his offi-
cial duties required his presence in the Senate Cham-
ber. Stokes remonstrated, but the Sergeant-at-Arms
persisted, and rose from the table, the Senator grum-
bling and declaring that had he supposed that Stokes
would have thus prematurely broken up the game he
would not have sat down to play with him.
Whist was regularly played at many of the "Con-
gressional messes," and at private parties a room was
always devoted to whist-playing. Once when the wife
of Henry Clay was chaperoning a young lady from
Boston, at a party given by one of his associates in
the Cabinet, they passed through the card-room, where
62 Perley's Reminiscences.
Mr. Clay and other gentlemen were playing whist. The
young lady, in her Puritan simplicity, inquired : " Is
card-playing a common practice here?" "Yes," replied
Mrs. Clay, "the gentlemen always play when they get
together." "Don't it distress you," said the Boston
maiden, " to have Mr. Clay gamble ?" " Oh ! dear,
no !" composedly replied the statesman's wife, " he
'most always wins."
There were only a few billiard-rooms, mostly patron-
ized by the members of the foreign legations or visit-
ing young men from the Northern cities. Ten-pin
alleys were abundant, and some of the muscular Con-
gressmen from the frontier would make a succession of
" ten strikes " with great ease, using the heaviest balls.
Some of the English residents organized a cricket club,
and used to play on a level spot in " the slashes," near
where the British Legation was afterward built, but the
game was not popular, and no American offered to join
the club.
/
William Harris Crawford was born In Virginia, February 24^,1772; was United States Senator,
1807-1813; Minister to France, 1813-1815; Secretary of War, 1815-1816 ; Secretary of the Treasury,
1816-1825 ; Judge of the Northern Circuit Court of Georgia, 1827, until he died at Elberton, Georgia,
September xjth, 1834.
CHAPTER IV.
PROMINENT SENATORS OF 1827.
THE NINETEENTH CONGRESS— VICE-PRESIDENT'jOHN C. CALHOUN — MAR-
TIN VAN BUREN — NATHANIEL MACON, OF NORTH CAROLINA — THOMAS
HART BENTON — RANDOLPH, OP ROANOKE — DUEL BETWEEN CLAY AND
RANDOLPH — AN OFFENDED VIRGINIAN — A FUTURE PRESIDENT — PROM-
INENT SENATORS — SENATORIAL CONTROL OF SOCIETY — THE DANCING
ASSEMBLIES — FASHIONABLE ATTIRE— BELLES OF THE PERIOD — THE
CODE OF HONOR.
THE old Senate Chamber, now used by the
Supreme Court, was admirably adapted for the
deliberations of the forty-eight gentlemen who
composed the upper house of the Nineteenth Congress.
Modeled after the theatres of ancient Greece, it possessed
excellent acoustic properties, and there was ample ac-
commodation in the galleries for the few strangers who
then visited Washington. The Senate used to meet at
noon and generally conclude its day's work by three
o'clock, *while adjournments over from Thursday until
the following Monday were frequent.
John C. Calhoun was Vice-President of the United
States, and consequently President of the Senate — a
position which to him was very irksome, as he was
forced to sit and dumbly listen to debates in which he
was eager to participate. He had been talked of by
some of the best men in the country as a candidate
during the then recent Presidential election, but the
North had not given him any substantial support. • Re-
63
64 , Per ley s Reminiscences.
garding each. Senator as an Ambassador from a sove-
reign State, he did not believe that as Vice-President
he possessed the power to call them to order for words
spoken in debate. Senator John Randolph abused this
license, and one day commenced one of his tirades by
saying: "Mr. Speaker! I mean Mr. President of the
Senate and would-be President of the United States,
which God in His infinite mercy avert" and then
went on in his usual strain of calumny and abuse.
Mr. Calhoun was 'tall, well-formed, without an ounce
of superfluous flesh, with a serious expression of coun-
tenance rarely brightened by a smile, and with his long,
black hair thrown back from his forehead, he looked
like an arch-conspirator waiting for the time to come
when he could strike the first blow. In his dress he
•
affected a Spartan simplicity, yet he used to have four
horses harnessed to his carriage, and his entertainments
at his residence on Georgetown Heights were very
elegant. His private life was irreproachable, although,
when Secretary of War under Mr. Monroe, he had
suffered obloquy because of a profitable contract, which
had been dishonestly awarded during his absence by
his chief clerk to that official's brother-in-law.
The prime mover of the Senate of that day was
Martin Van Buren, of New York, who was beginning
to reap the reward of years of subservient intrigues.
Making the friends of Calhoun and of Crawford be-
lieve that they had each been badly treated by the
alliance between Adams and Clay, he united them in
the support of General Jackson, and yet no one sus-
pected him. When Mr. Van Buren had first been
elected to Congress, Rufus King, of his State, had said
to G. F. Mercer, also a member, " Within two weeks
Van Buren will become perfectly acquainted with the
Van Burerfs Intrigues.
views and feelings of every member, yet no man will
know his."
This prediction was verified, and Mr. Van Buren
soon became the directing spirit among the friends of
General Jackson, although no one was ever able to quote
his views. Taking Aaron Burr as his political model,
but leading an irreproachable private life, he rose by
his ability to plan and to execute with consummate
skill the most difficult political intrigues. He was
rather under the
medium height,
with a high fore-
head, a quick eye,
and pleasing fea-
tures. He made
attitude and de-
portment a study,
and when, on his
leaving the Senate,
his household fur-
niture was sold at
auction it was no-
ticed that the car-
pet before a large
looking - glass in
his study was worn
threadbare. It was there that he had rehearsed his
speeches.
The " Father of the Senate " was Nathaniel Macon,
of North Carolina, who had served in the ranks during
the Revolution, and then in the Senate of North Caro-
lina. He was elected to the Second Congress, taking
his seat in October, 1791, and after having been re-
elected eleven times, generally without opposition, he
5
JOHN H. EATON
66 • Perley^s Reminiscences.
was transferred to the Senate in 1815, and re-elected
until he declined in 1828, making thirty-seven years
of continuous Congressional service. At the very
commencement of his Congressional career he ener-
getically opposed the financial schemes of Alexander
Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, and through-
out his political career he was a " strict, severe, and
stringent " Democrat. Personally Mr. Macon was a
genial companion. He had none of that moroseness
at the fireside which often accompanies political distinc-
tion, and it was said that at his home he was the kind-
est and most beloved of slave-masters.
Colonel Thomas Hart Benton, who had earned his
military title in the army during the war with Great
Britain, was a large, heavily framed man, with black,
curly hair and whiskers, prominent features, and a sten-
torian voice. He wore the high, black-silk neck-stock
and the double-breasted frock-coat of his youthful times
during his thirty years' career in the Senate, varying
with the seasons the materials of which his pantaloons
were made, but never the fashion in which they were
cut. When in debate, outraging every customary pro-
priety of language, he would rush forward with blind
fury upon every obstacle, like the huge, wild buffaloes
then ranging the prairies of his adopted State, whose
paths, he used to subsequently assert, would show the
way through the passes of the Rocky Mountains. He
was not a popular speaker, and when he took the floor
occupants of the galleries invariably began to leave,
while many Senators devoted themselves to their corres-
pondence. In private life Colonel Benton was gentle-
ness and domestic affection personified, and a desire
to have his children profit by the superior advantages
for their education in the District of Columbia kept
Benton and His Constituents.
->v \>
^
THOMAS H. BENTON SPEAKING AT HIS DESK.
him from his constituents in Missouri, where a new
generation of voters grew up who did not know
him and who would not follow his political lead,
68 Perley^s Reminiscences.
while lie was ignorant of their views on the question
of slavery.
Senator Randolph, of Virginia, attracted the most
attention on the part of strangers. He was at least
six feet in height, with long limbs, an ill-proportioned
body, and a small, round head. Claiming descent from
Pocahontas, he wore his coarse, black hair long, parted
JOHN RANDOLPH RIDING TO THE CAPITOL.
in the middle, and combed down on either side of his
sallow face. His small, black eyes were expressive
in their rapid glances, especially when he was engaged
in debate, and his high-toned and thin voice would ring
through the Senate Chamber like the shrill scream of
an angry vixen. He generally wore a full suit of heavy,
drab-colored English broadcloth, the high, rolling collar
Randolphs Eccentricities. 69
of his surtout coat almost concealing his head, while
the skirts hung in voluminous folds about his knee-
breeches and the white leather tops of his boots. He
used to enter the Senate Chamber wearing a pair of
silver spurs, carrying a heavy riding-whip, and followed
by a favorite hound, which crouched beneath his desk.
He wrote, and occasionally spoke, in riding-gloves, and
it was his favorite gesture to point the long index
finger of his right hand at his opponent as he hurled
forth tropes and figures of speech at him. Kvery ten
or fifteen minutes, while he occupied the floor, he would
exclaim in a low tone, "Tims, more porter!" and the
assistant doorkeeper would hand him a foaming tumbler
of potent malt liquor, which he would hurriedly drink,
and then proceed with his remarks, often thus drinking
three or four quarts in an afternoon. He was not
choice in his selection of epithets, and as Mr. Calhoun
took the ground that he did not have the power to call
a Senator to order, the irate Virginian pronounced
President Adams " a traitor," Daniel Webster " a vile
slanderer," John Holmes " a dangerous fool," and Ed-
ward Livingston " the most contemptible and degraded
of beings, whom no man ought to touch, unless with a
pair of tongs." One day, while he was speaking with
great freedom of abuse of Mr. Webster, then a member
of the House, a Senator informed him in an undertone
that Mrs. Webster was in the gallery. He had not the
delicacy to desist, however, until he had fully emptied
the vials of his wrath. Then he set upon Mr. Speaker
Taylor, and after abusing him soundly he turned sar-
castically to the gentleman who had informed him of
Mrs. Webster's presence, and asked, " Is Mrs. Taylor
present also ?"
Henry Clay was frequently the object of Mr. Ran-
70 Perley's Reminiscences.
dolph's denunciations, which he bore patiently until the
"Lord of Roanoke" spoke, one 'day, of the reported
alliance between the President and the Secretary of
State as the " coalition of Blifil and Black George — the
combination, unheard of till then, of the Puritan and
the blackleg." Mr. Clay at once wrote to know whether
he intended to call him a political gambler, or to attach
the infamy of such epithets to his private life. Mr.
Randolph declined to give any explanation, and a duel
was fought without bloodshed.
Mr. Randolph, on another occasion, deliberately in-
sulted Mr. James Lloyd, one of " the solid men of
Boston," then a Senator from Massachusetts, who had,
in accordance with the custom, introduced upon the
floor of the Senate one of his constituents, Major
Benjamin Russell, the editor of the Columbian Sentinel.
The sight of a Federal editor aroused Mr. Randolph's
anger, and he at once insolently demanded that the
floor of the Senate be cleared, forcing Major Russell to
retire. Mr. Lloyd took the first opportunity to express
his opinion of this gratuitous insult, and declared, in
very forcible language, that, as he had introduced
Major Russell on the floor, he was responsible therefor.
Mr. Randolph indulged in a little gasconade, in which
he announced that his carriage was waiting at the door
to convey him to Baltimore, and at the conclusion of
his remarks he left the Senate Chamber and the city.
Mr. Calhoun, who had not attempted to check Mr. Ran-
dolph, lamented from the chair that anything should
have happened to mar the harmony of the Senate, and
again declared that he had no power to call a Senator
to order, nor would he for ten thousand worlds look
like a usurper.
Senator Tazewell, Mr. Randolph's colleague, was a
A Shot that Paid. 71
first-class Virginia abstractionist and an avowed hater of
New England. Dining one day at the White House,
he provoked the President by offensively asserting that
he had " never known a Unitarian who did not believe
in the sea-serpent." Soon afterward Mr. Tazewell
spoke of the different kinds of wines, and declared that
Tokay and Rhenish wine were alike in taste. " Sir," said
Mr. Adams, " I do not believe that yon ever drank a
drop of Tokay in all your life." For this remark the
President subsequently sent an apology to Mr. Tazewell,
but the Virginia Senator never forgot or forgave the re-
mark.
William Henry Harrison, a tall, spare, gray-haired
gentleman, who had gone from his Virginia home into
the Western wilderness as aid-de-camp to General
Anthony Wayne, had been elected a Senator from the
State of Ohio, but probably never dreamed that in years
to come he would be elected President by an immense
majority, with John Tyler on the ticket as Vice-Presi-
dent. Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, had,
however, begun to electioneer for the Democratic nomi-
nation for the Vice-Presidency, basing his claim upon
his having shot Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames,
and he was finally successful. He was of medium size,
with large features, and light auburn hair, and his pri-
vate life was attacked without mercy by his political
opponents.
John Henry Eaton, of Tennessee, was General Jack-
son's henchman, who had come to the Senate that he
might the better electioneer for his old friend and com-
mander. William Hendricks, a Senator from Indiana,
was the uncle of Thomas A. Hendricks, of a subse-
quent political generation. The New Hampshire Sen-
ators were Levi Woodbury and John Bell, men of de-
72 Perley^s Reminiscences.
cided ability and moral worth. Georgia supplied a
polished and effective orator in J. McPherson Berrieri.
Vermont was represented by portly and good-looking
Dudley Chase, who was the uncle of Chief Justice
Chase, and by Horatio Seymour, of Middlebury.
Maine's stalwart, blue-eyed Senator, Albion Keith
Parris, was said to have filled more public offices than
any other man of his age, and his colleague, John
Holmes, although rude in speech and at times vulgar,
was the humorous champion of the North. Ever on
the watch for some unguarded expression by a South-
ern Senator, no sooner would one be uttered than he
would pounce upon it and place the speaker in a most
uncomfortable position. John Tyler one day thought
that he could annoy Mr. Holmes, and asked him what
had become of that political firm once mentioned in
debate by John Randolph as "James Madison, Felix
Grundy, John Holmes, and the Devil." Mr. Holmes
rose at once. " I will tell the gentleman," said he,
" what has become of that firm. The first member is
dead, the second has gone into retirement, the third now
addresses you, and the last has gone over to the Nulli-
fiers, and is now electioneering among the gentleman's
constituents. So the partnership is legally dissolved."
The Senators were rather exclusive, those from the
South assuming the control of u good society," which
was then very limited in its extent and simple in its
habits. Few Senators or Representatives brought their
wives to cheer their Congressional labors, and a parlor
of ordinary size would contain all of those who were
accustomed to attend social gatherings. The diplomats,
with the officers of the army and navy stationed at
headquarters, were accompanied by their wives, and
there were generally a few visitors of social distinction.
Ceremonious Assemblages.
73
The Washington assemblies were very ceremonious
and exclusive. Admission was obtained only by cards
of invitation, issued after long consultations among the
Committeemen, and, once inside the exclusive ring, the
beaux and belles bowed beneath the disciplinary rule of
DANCING PARTY OF THE ANCIENT ELITE.
a master of ceremonies. No gentleman, whatever may
have been his rank or calling, was permitted on the
floor unless in full evening dress, with the adornment
of pumps, silk stockings, and flowing cravat, unless he
belonged to the army or the navy, in which case com-
plete regimentals covered a multitude of sins. The
74 Perley*s Reminiscences.
ball, commencing upon the stroke of eight precisely,
opened with a rollicking country dance, and the lady
selected for the honor of opening the festivities was
subsequently toasted as the reigning divinity of fashion
for the hour. The " minuet de la cour" and stately
u quadrille," varied by the " basket dance," and, on ex-
ceptional occasions, the exhilarating " cheat," formed the
staple for saltatorial performance, until the hour of
eleven brought the concluding country dance, when a
final squad of roysterers bobbed " up the middle and
down again " to the airs of u Sir Roger de Coverly " or
" Money Musk."
The music was furnished by colored performers on
the violin, except on great occasions, when some of the
Marine Band played an accompaniment on flutes and
clarinets. The refreshments were iced lemonade, ice-
cream, port wine negus, and small cakes, served in a
room adjoining the dancing-hall, or brought in by the
colored domestics, or by the cavalier in his own proper
person, who ofttimes appeared upon the dancing-floor,
elbowing his way to the lady of his adoration, in the
one hand bearing well-filled glasses, and in the other
sustaining a plate heaped up with cake.
The costume of the ladies was classic in its scanti-
ness, especially at balls and parties. The fashionable
ball dress was of white India crape, and five breadths,
each a quarter of a yard wide, were all that was asked
for to make a skirt, which only came down to the
ankles, and was elaborately trimmed with a dozen or
more rows of narrow flounces. Silk or cotton stock-
ings were adorned with embroidered " clocks," and thin
slippers were ornamented with silk rosettes and tiny
buckles.
Those gentlemen who dressed fashionably wore
Dandyism and Duelling. 75
"Bolivar" frock-coats of some gay-colored cloth, blue
or green or claret, with large lapels and gilded buttons.
Their linen was ruffled ; their " Cossack " trousers were
voluminous in size, and were tucked into high " Hes-
sian " boots with gold tassels. They wore two and
sometimes three waistcoats, each of different colors,
and from their watch-pockets dangled a ribbon, with a
bunch of large seals. When in full dress, gentlemen
wore dress-coats with enormous collars and short
waists, well-stuffed white cambric cravats, small-clothes,
or tight-fitting pantaloons, silk stockings, and pumps.
Duels were very common, and a case of dueling pis-
tols was a part of the outfit of the Southern and
Western Congressmen, who used to spend more or less
time in practicing. Imported pistols were highly prized,
but the best weapons were made by a noted Philadel-
phia gunsmith' named Derringer, who gave his name
to a short pistol of his invention to be carried in the
trouser's pocket for use in street fights. Some of the
dueling pistols were inlaid with gold, and they all had
flint-locks, as percussion caps had not been invented,
nor hair triggers.
EDWARD EVBRBTT. Born in Massachusetts April nth, 1794; was a Unitarian clergyman, and a
professor at Harvard College, until elected a Representative from Massachusetts, 1825-1835 ; Gover-
nor of Massachusetts, 1836-1840 ; Minister to Great Britain, 1841-1845 ; President of Harvard Col-
lege, 1846-1849; Secretary of State under President Fillmore, 1852-1853; United States Senator
from Massachusetts, 1853-1854 ; died at Boston, January isth, 1865.
CHAPTER V.
PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVES OF 1827.
THE REPRESENTATIVES' HALL — ADMISSION OF LADIES — WEBSTER, OF
MASSACHUSETTS — EDWARD EVERETT — M'DUFFIE, OF SOUTH CARO-
LINA— RHODE ISLAND'S BALD EAGLE — A BARGAIN EXPOSED — RE-
TRENCHMENT AND REFORM — PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVES — THE
SUPREME COURT — CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL — MR. JUSTICE WASH-
INGTON— CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.
THE Hall of the House of Representatives (now
used as a National Gallery of Statuary) was
a reproduction of the ancient theatre, magni-
ficent in its effect, but so deficient in acoustic proper-
ties that it was unfit for legislative occupation. It was
there that Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House,
had welcomed General Lafayette as " the Nation's
Guest." The contrast between the tall and graceful
Kentuckian, with his sunny smile and his silver-toned
voice, and the good old Marquis, with his auburn wig
awry, must have been great. His reply appeared to
come from a grateful heart, but it was asserted that the
Speaker had written both his own words of welcome
and also Lafayette's acknowledgment of them, and it
became a subject of newspaper controversy, which was
ended by the publication of a card signed " H. Clay,"
in which he positively denied the authorship, although
he admitted that he had suggested the most effective
sentences.
Ladies Excluded.
77
Ladies had been excluded from the galleries of the
House originally, in accordance with British precedent.
But one night at a party a lady expressed her regret to
Hon. Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts, that she could
LAFAYETTE, THE NATION'S GUEST.
not hear the arguments, especially his speeches. Mr.
Ames gallantly replied that he knew of no reason why
ladies should not to hear the debates. " Then," said
Mrs. Langdon, " if you will let me know when next
you intend to speak, I will make up a party of ladies
78 Per ley* s Reminiscences.
and we will go and hear you." The notice was given,
the ladies went, and since then Congressional orators
have always had fair hearers — with others perhaps not
very fair.
The House was really occupied, during the adminis-
tration of John Quincy Adams, in the selection of his
successor. At first the political outlook was rather
muddled, although keen eyes averred that they could
perceive, moving restlessly to and fro, the indefinite
forms of those shadows which coming events project.
Different seers interpreted the phantasmal appearances
in different fashions, and either endeavored to form
novel combinations, or joined in raking common
sewers for filth wherewith to bespatter those who were
the rivals of their favorite candidates. It was then
that Congressional investigating committees became
a part of the political machinery of the day. The
accounts of President Adams when, in former years,
he was serving the country in Europe as a diplomatist ;
the summary execution of deserters by order of Gen-
eral Jackson, when he commanded the army in Florida ;
the bills for refurnishing the White House ; the affida-
vits concerning the alleged bargain between the Presi-
dent and his Secretary of State, and the marriage of
General Jackson to Mrs. Robards before she had been
divorced from Mr. Robards, were, with many other
scandals, paraded before the public.
Daniel Webster had been recognized in advance as
the leader of the House by his appointment as chair-
man of the committee to inform Mr. Adams that he
had been elected President. This Mr. Webster did
verbally, but Mr. Adams had prepared a written reply,
which had been copied by a clerk and bore his auto-
graph signature.
"Black Dan:'1 79
Mr. Webster was at that period of his life the em-
bodiment of health and good spirits. . His stalwart
frame, his massive head, crowned with a wealth of
black hair, his heavy eye-brows, overhanging his great,
expressive, and cavernous eyes, all distinguished him
as one of the powers of the realm of intellect — one of
the few to whom Divinity has accorded a royal share of
the Promethian fire of genius. His deportment was
ceremonious, and he made a decided impression on
strangers. When Jenny Lind first saw him, she was
much impressed by his majestic appearance, and after-
ward exclaimed, " I have seen a man !"
His swarthy complexion gained him the epithet of
" Black Dan." He was very proud of his complexion,
which he inherited from his grandmother, Susannah
Bachelder (from whom the poet Whittier also claimed
descent), and he used to quote the compliment paid by
General Stark, the hero of Bennington, to his father, Col-
onel Ebenezer Webster : " He has the black Bachelder
complexion, which burnt gunpowder will not change."
Although majestic in appearance, Mr. Webster was not
really a very large man ; in height he was only about
five feet ten inches. His head looked very large, but
he wore a seven and five-eighth hat, as did Mr. Clay,
whose head appeared much smaller. His shoulders
were very broad and his chest was very full, but his
hips and lower limbs were small.
Mr. Webster had his first great sorrow then. His eldest,
and at that time his only, daughter died at Washing-
ton, and the next year her mother followed her to the
grave. This estimable lady, whose maiden name was
Grace Fletcher, was one year older than Mr. Webster,
and was the daughter of a New Hampshire clergyman.
While on her way to Washington with her husband,
8o
Perley's Reminiscences.
the December after lie had been re-elected United
States Senator by a nearly two-thirds vote in each
branch of the " General Court " of Massachusetts, she
was taken fatally ill at the house of Mr. Webster's
friend, Dr. Perkins, where they were guests.
Mr. Webster had begun at that time to be disturbed
about his money matters, although he should have
been in a prosperous pecuniary condition. His profes-
sional income
could not have
been less than
twenty thousand
dollars a year, and
he had just receiv-
ed seventy thou-
sand dollars as his
five per cent, fee as
counsel for the
claimants before
the Commissioners
on Spanish Claims,
but he had begun
to purchase land
and was almost al-
ways harassed for
ready money.
Edward Hverett, who was a member of the Massa-
chusetts delegation in the House, had won early fame
as a popular preacher of the gospel, as a professor at
Harvard College, and as the editor of the North Ameri-
can Review. Placed by his marriage above want, he
became noted for his profound learning and persuasive
eloquence. At times he was almost electrical in his
utterances; his reasoning was logical and luminous,
EDWARD EVERETT.
Giants of the House. 81
and his remarks always gave evidence of careful study.
As a politician Mr. Bverett was not successful. The
personification of self-discipline and dignity, he was too
much like ail intellectual icicle to find favor with the
masses, and he was deficient in courage when any bold
step was to be' taken.
George McDuffie, who represented the Bdgefield Dis-
trict of South Carolina, had been taken from labor
in a blacksmith's shop by Mr. Calhoun and became
the grateful champion of his patron in the House. He
was a spare, grim-looking man, who was an admirer of
Milton, and who was never known to jest or to smile.
As a debater he had few equals in the House, but he
failed when, during the discussion of the Panama Mis-
sion question, he opened his batteries upon Mr. Web-
ster. The " expounder of the Constitution " retorted
with great force, reminding the gentleman from South
Carolina that noisy declamation was not logic, and that
he should not apply coarse epithets to the President,
who could not reply to them. Mr. Webster then went
on to say that he would furnish the gentleman from
South Carolina with high authority on the point to
which he had objected, and quoted from a speech by Mr.
Calhoun which effectually extinguished Mr. McDuffie.
Tristam Burgess, of Rhode Island, who had a snowy
head and a Roman nose, was called " the bald eagle of
the House." Although under fifty years of age, his
white hair and bent form gave him a patriarchal look
and added to the effect of his fervid eloquence and his
withering sarcasm. A man of iron heart, he was ever
anxious to meet his antagonists, haughty in his rude
self-confidence, and exhaustive in the use of every
expletive of abuse permitted by parliamentary usage.
In debate he resembled one of the old soldiers who
6
Sa Perley^s Reminiscences.
fought on foot or on horseback, with heavy or light
arms, a battle-axe or a spear. The champion of the
North, he divided the South and thrashed and slashed
as did old Horatius, when with his good sword he stood
upon the bridge and with his single arm defended
Rome.
George Kreiner, of Pennsylvania, was probably the
most unpopular man in the House. An anonymous
letter had appeared just before the election of President
by the Representatives denouncing an " unholy coali-
tion " between Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, by which the
support of the friends of the latter had been transferred
to the former, " as the planter does his negroes, or the
farmer his team and horses." Mr. Clay at once pub-
lished a card, over his signature, in which he called the
writer " a base and infamous calumniator, a dastard,
and a liar." Mr. Kremer replied, admitting that he
had written the letter, but in such a manner that his
political friends were ashamed of his cowardice, while
the admirers of Mr. Clay were very indignant — the
more so as they suspected that Mr. James Buchanan
had instigated the letter.
Mr. Henry W. Dwight, of Massachusetts, a good
specimen of " a sound mind in a sound body," gave
great attention to the appropriation bills, and secured
liberal sums for carrying on the various departments of
the Government. His most formidable antagonist was
a self-styled reformer and physical giant, Mr. Thomas
Chilton, of Kentucky, who had been at one period of
his life a Baptist preacher. He declared on the floor in
debate that he was pledged to his constituents to en-
deavor to retrench the expenses of the General Govern-
ment, to dimmish the army and navy, to abridge the
number of civil and diplomatic officials, and, above all,
Some Smaller Men. 83
to cut down the pay of Congressmen. He made speeches
in support of all these "reforms," but did not succeed in
securing the discharge of a soldier, a sailor, a diplo-
matist, or a clerk, neither did he reduce the appropria-
tions one single cent. The erratic Mr. David Crockett
was then a member of the House, but had not attracted
public attention, although the Jackson men were angry
because he, one of Old Hickory's officers in the Creek
War, was a devoted adherent of Henry Clay for the
Presidency. One of his colleagues in the Tennessee
delegation was Mr. James K. Polk, a rigid and uncom-
promising Presbyterian, a political disciple of Macon,
and a man of incorruptible honesty.
Prominent among the Representatives from the State
of New York were Messrs. Gulian C. Verplanck and
Thomas J. Oakley, members of the legal profession,
who were statesmen rather than politicians. Mr. George
C. Washington, of Maryland, was the great-nephew of
" the Father of his country," and had inherited a por-
tion of the library at Mount Vernon, which he subse-
quently sold to the Boston Athenaeum. Messrs. Elisha
Whittlesey and Samuel Vinton, Representatives from
Ohio, were afterward for many years officers of the
Federal Government and residents at Washington. Mr.
Jonathan Hunt, of Vermont, a lawyer of ability, and
one of the companions chosen by Mr. Webster, was the
father of that gifted artist, William Morris Hunt, whose
recent death was so generally regretted. Mr. Silas
Wright, of New York, was then attracting attention in
the Democratic party, of which he became a great
leader, and which would have elected him President
had he not shortened his life by intemperance. He
was a solid, square-built man, with an impassive, ruddy
face. He claimed to be a good farmer, but no orator,
JUDGE STORY IN HIS OFFICIAL ROBES.
Dress in the Supreme Court. 85
yet lie was noted for the compactness of His logic,
which was unenlivened by a figure of speech or a night
of fancy.
The Supreme Court then sat in the room in the base-
ment of the Capitol, now occupied as a law library. It
has an arched ceiling supported by massive pillars that
obstruct the view, and is very badly ventilated. But it
is rich in traditions of hair -powder, queues, ruffled
shirts, knee-breeches, and buckles. Up to that time no
justice had ever sat upon the bench in trousers, nor
had any lawyer ventured to plead in boots or wearing
whiskers. Their Honors, the Chief Justice and the
Associate Justices, wearing silk judicial robes, were
treated with the most profound respect. When Mr.
Clay stopped, one day, in an argument, and advancing
to the bench, took a pinch of snuff from Judge Wash-
ington's box, saying, " I perceive that your Honor
sticks to the Scotch," and then proceeded with his case,
it excited astonishment and admiration. " Sir," said
Mr. Justice Story, in relating the circumstance to a
friend, " I do not believe there is a man in the United
States who could have done that but Mr. Clay."
Chief Justice John Marshall, who had then presided
in the Supreme Court for more than a quarter of a cen-
tury, was one of the last survivors of those officers of
the Revolutionary Army who had entered into civil
service. He was a tall, gaunt man, with a small head
and bright black eyes. He used to wear an unbrushed
long-skirted black coat, a badly fitting waistcoat, and
knee-breeches, a voluminous white cambric cravat, gen-
erally soiled, and black worsted stockings, with low
shoes and silver buckles. When upward of seventy
years of age he still relished the pleasures of the quoit
club or the whist table, and to the last his right hand
never forgot its cunning with the billiard cue.
86
Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
Nor did the Chief Justice ever lose his relish for a
joke, even at his own expense. In the Law Library
one day he fell from a step-ladder, bruising himself
severely and scattering an armful of books in all
directions. An attendant, full of alarm, ran to assist
him, but his Honor drily remarked, " That time I was
completely floored."
'COMPLETELY FLOORED"
Bushrod Washington, who had been appointed to the
Supreme Court by President John Adams, was by in-
heritance the owner of Mount Vernon, where his re-
mains now lie, near those of his illustrious uncle,
George Washington. He was a small, insignificant-
looking man, deprived of the sight of one eye by ex-
cessive study, negligent of dress, and an immoderate
Christmas Festivities. 87
snuff-taker. He was a rigid disciplinarian and a great
stickler for etiquette, and on one occasion he sat for six-
teen hours without leaving the bench. He was also a
man of rare humor.
Christmas was the popular holiday season at Wash-
ington sixty years ago, the descendants of the Mary-
land Catholics joining the descendants of the Virginia
Episcopalians in celebrating the advent of their Lord.
The colored people enjoyed the festive season, and
there was scarcely a house in Washington in which
there was not a well-filled punch bowl. In some
antique silver bowls was " Daniel Webster punch,"
made of Medford rum, brandy, champagne, arrack,
maraschino, strong green tea, lemon juice, and sugar;
in other less expensive bowls was found a cheaper con-
coction. But punch abounded everywhere, and the
bibulous found Washington a rosy place, where jocund
mirth and joyful recklessness went arm in arm to flout
vile melancholy, and kick, with ardent fervor, dull
care out of the window. Christmas carols were sung
in the streets by the young colored people, and yule
logs were burned in the old houses where the fire-
places had not been bricked up.
/
c
HENRY CLAY, born in Virginia, April i2th, 1777 ; United States Senator from Kentucky, 1806-1807,
and again 1810-1811 ; Representative from Kentucky, 1811-1814; negotiator of the treaty of Ghent,
1815; Representative in Congress, 1815-1820, and 1823-1825; Secretary of State under President
Adams, 1825-1829; United States Senator from Kentucky, 1831-1842, and 1844, until he died at
Washington City, June 2gth, 1852.
CHAPTER VI.
THE POLITICAL MACHINE.
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN — ELECTION OP GENERAL JACKSON'
— DEATH OF MRS. ANDREW JACKSON — THE INAUGURATION OF "OLD
HICKORY" — RECEPTION AT THE WHITE HOUSE— AN EDITORIAL PHA-
LANX—THE CIVIL SERVICE— DISCIPLINING A POSTMASTER-GENERAL —
A FORTUNATE MAIL CONTRACTOR — THE SUNDAY MAIL CRUSADE.
AS the time for another Presidential election ap-
proached, the friends of General Jackson com-
menced active operations in his behalf. The
prime mover in the campaign was General John Henry
Eaton, then a Senator from Tennessee. He had pub-
lished in 1818 a brief life of the hero of New Orleans,
which he enlarged in 1824 an(^ published with the title,
"The Life of Andrew Jackson, Major-General in the
Service of the United States, comprising a History of
the War in the South from the Commencement of the
Creek Campaign to the Termination of Hostilities Be-
fore New Orleans." The facts in it were obtained from
General Jackson and his wife, but every incident of his
life calculated to injure him in the public estimation
was carefully suppressed. It was, however, the recog-
nized text-book for Democratic editors and stump speak-
ers, and although entirely unreliable, it has formed
the basis for the lives of General Jackson since pub-
lished.
President Adams enjoined neutrality upon his friends,
88
Bitter Oppositions.
89
but some of them, acting with Democrats who were
opposed to the election of General Jackson, had pub-
lished and circulated, as an offset to General Baton's
book, a thick pamphlet entitled, " Reminiscences ; or,
an Extract from the Catalogue of General Jackson's
Youthful Indiscretions, between the Age of Twenty-
ANDREW JACKSON.
three and Sixty," which contained an account of Jack-
son's fights, brawls, affrays, and duels, numbered from
one to fourteen. Broadsides, bordered with wood-cuts
of coffins, and known as " coffin hand-bills," narrated
the summary and unjust execution as deserters of a
number of militiamen in the Florida campaign whose
90 Perlefs Reminiscences.
legal term of service had expired. Another handbill
gave the account of General Jackson's marriage to
Mrs. Robards before she had been legally divorced from
her husband.
General Jackson's friends also had printed and circu-
lated large editions of campaign songs, the favorite
being " The Hunters of Kentucky," which commenced :
" You've heard, I s'pose, of New Orleans,
'Tis famed for youth and beauty,
There' re girls of every' hue, it seems,
From snowy white to sooty.
Now Packenham had made his brags,
If he that day was lucky,
He'd have those girls and cotton-bags
In spite of old Kentucky.
But Jackson, he was wide awake,
And was not scared at trifles,
For well he knew Kentucky's boys,
With their death-dealing rifles.
He led them down to cypress swamp,
The ground was low and mucky,
There stood John Bull in martial pomp,
And here stood old Kentucky.
" Oh ! Kentucky, the hunters of Kentucky !"
After a political campaign of unprecedented bitter-
ness, General Jackson was elected, receiving one hun-
dred and seventy-eight electoral votes against eighty-
three cast for John Quincy Adams, and so a new
chapter was commenced in the social as well as the
political chronicles of the National Capital. Those
who had known the Presidential successors of Wash-
ington as educated and cultivated gentlemen, well
versed in the courtesies of private life and of ceremo-
nious statesmanship, saw them succeeded by a military
chieftain, whose life had been " a battle and a march,"
thickly studded with personal difficulties and duels ;
Knavery Triumphant. 91
who had given repeated evidences of his disregard of
the laws when they stood in the way of his imperious
will ; and who, when a United States Senator, had dis-
played no ability as a legislator. His election was
notoriously the work of Martin Van Buren, inspired
by Aaron Burr, and with his inauguration was initiated
a sordidly selfish political system entirely at variance
with the broad views of Washington and of Hamilton.
OLD WAR DEPARTMENT.
It was assumed that every
citizen had his price ; that
neither virtue nor genius
was proof against clever
although selfish corruption ; that political honesty was
a farce ; and that the only way of governing those
knaves who elbowed their way up through the masses
was to rule them by cunning more acute than their
own and by knavery more subtle and calculating than
theirs.
Before leaving his rural home in Tennessee, General
Jackson had been afflicted by the sudden death of his
92 Perley*s Reminiscences.
wife. " Aunt Rachel," as Mrs. Jackson was called b}
her husband's personal friends, had accompanied him
to Washington when he was there as a Senator from
Tennessee. She was a short, stout, unattractive, and
uneducated woman, though greatly endeared to Gen-
eral Jackson. While he had been in the army she had
carefully managed his' plantation, his slaves, and his
money matters, and her devotion to him knew no
bounds. Her happiness was centered in his, and it
was her chief desire to smoke her corn-cob pipe in
peace at his side. When told that he had been elected
President of the United States, she replied, " Well, for
Mr. Jackson's sake I am glad of it, but for myself I
am not." A few weeks later she was arrayed for the
grave in a white satin costume which she had provided
herself with to wear at the White House. After her
funeral her sorrow-stricken husband came to Washing-
ton with a stern determination to punish those who
had maligned her during the preceding campaign.
Having been told that President Adams had sanctioned
the publication of the slanders, he did not call at the
White House, in accordance with usage, but paid daily
visits to his old friends in the War Department. Mr.
Adams, stung by this neglect, determined not to play
the part of the conquered leader of the inauguration,
and quietly removed to the house of Commodore
Porter, in the suburbs, on the morning of the 3d of
March.
The weather on the 4th of March, 1829, was serene
and mild, and at an early hour Pennsylvania Avenue,
then unpaved, with a double row of poplar trees along
its centre, was filled with crowds of people, many of
whom had journeyed immense distances on foot. The
officials at Washington, who were friends of Mr. Adams,
"Hurrah for Jackson" 93
had agreed not to participate in the inaugural ceremo-
nies, and the only uniformed company of light infantry,
commanded by Colonel Seaton, of the National Intelli-
gencer, had declined to offer its services as an escort.
A number of old Revolutionary officers, however, had
hastily organized themselves, and waited on General
Jackson to solicit the honor of forming his escort to
the Capitol, an offer which was cordially accepted. The
General rode in an open carriage which had been
placed at his disposal, and was. surrounded by these
gallant veterans. The assembled thousands cheered
lustily as their favorite passed along, every face radiant
with defiant joy, and every voice shouting " Hurrah
for Jackson !"
After the installation of John C. Calhoun as Vice-
President in the Senate Chamber, the assembled digni-
taries moved in procession through the rotunda to the
east front of the Capitol. As the tall figure of the
President-elect came out upon the portico and ascended
the platform, uplifted hats and handkerchiefs waved a
welcome, and shouts of " Hurrah for Jackson !" rent
the air. Looking around for a moment into ten thou-
sand upturned and exultant human faces, .the Presi-
dent-elect removed his hat, took the manuscript of his
address from his pocket, and read it with great dignity.
When he had finished, Chief Justice Marshall admin-
istered the oath, and as the President, bending over the
sacred Book, touched it with his lips, there arose such
a shout as was never before heard in Washington, fol-
lowed by the thunder of cannons, from two light bat-
teries near by, echoed by the cannon at the Navy
Yard and at the Arsenal. The crowd surged toward
the platform, and had it not been that a ship's cable
had been stretched across the portico steps would have
94 Perley*s Reminiscences.
captured their beloved leader. As it was, lie shook
hands with hundreds, and it was with some difficulty
that he could be escorted back to his carriage and along
Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Mean-
while Mr. Adams, who had refused to participate in the
pageant, was taking his usual constitutional horseback
exercise when the thunders of the cannon reached his
ears and notified him that he was again a private citi-
zen.
The broad sidewalks of Pennsylvania Avenue were
again packed as the procession returned from the Capi-
tol. "I never saw such a crowd," wrote Daniel Web-
ster to a friend. " Persons have come five hundred
miles to see General Jackson, and they really seem to
think that the country is rescued from some dreadful
danger." Hunters of Kentucky and Indian fighters
of Tennessee, with sturdy frontiersmen from the
Northwest, were mingled in the throng with the more
cultured dwellers on the Atlantic slope.
On their arrival at the White House, the motley
crowd clamored for refreshments and soon drained the
barrels of punch, which had been prepared, in drink-
ing to the health of the new Chief Magistrate. A
great deal of china and glassware was broken, and the
Hast Room was filled with a noisy mob. At one time
General Jackson, who had retreated until he stood with
his back against the wall, was protected by a number
of his friends, who formed a living barrier about him.
Such a scene had never before been witnessed at the
White House, and the aristocratic old Federalists saw,
to their disgust, men whose boots were covered with the
red mud of the unpaved streets standing on the dam-
ask satin-covered chairs to get a sight at the President
of their choice.
An Inauguration Dinner. 95
Late in the afternoon President Jackson sat down to
dinner with. Vice-President Calhoun and a party of his
personal friends, the central dish on the table being a
sirloin from a prize ox, sent to him by John Merkle, a
butcher of Franklin Market, New York. Before retir-
ing that night, the President wrote to the donor : " Per-
mit me, sir, to assure you of the gratification which I
felt in being enabled to place on my table so fine a speci-
men from your market, and to offer you my sincere
thanks for so acceptable a token of your regard for my
character."
This was naturally the commencement of a series
of presents which poured in on President Jackson dur-
ing the eight years of his administration. So palpable
a bid for other tokens of regard for the President's
character could hardly fail to evoke responses. From
the days of Solomon it has been true that " a man's
gift maketh room for him," and though many of Jack-
son's gift-senders failed to find the room made, yet it
was true nevertheless that room was seldom made
where the gifts were not forthcoming, so come the gifts
did in abundance.
The Democratic journalists from all parts of the
country were also well represented at the inauguration,
attracted, doubtless, by this luring, semi-official declara-
tion in the Telegraph : " We know not what line of
policy General Jackson will adopt. We take it for
granted, however, that he will reward his friends and
punish his enemies."
The leader of this editorial phalanx was Amos Ken-
dall, a native of Dunstable, Massachusetts, who had by
pluck and industry acquired an education and migrated
westward in search of fame and fortune. Accident
made him an inmate of Henry Clay's house and the
g6 Perley^s Reminiscences.
tutor of his children ; but many months had not
elapsed before the two became political foes, and Ken-
dall, who had become the conductor of a Democratic
newspaper, triumphed, bringing to Washington the
official vote of Kentucky for Andrew Jackson. He
found at the National metropolis other Democratic
editors, who, like himself, had labored to bring about
the political revolution, and they used to meet daily at
the house of a preacher-politician, Rev. Obadiah B.
Brown, who had strongly advocated Jackson's election.
Mr. Brown, who was a stout, robust man, with a great
fund of anecdotes, was a clerk in the Post Office De-
partment during the week, while on Sundays he per-
formed his ministerial duties in the Baptist Church.
Organizing under the lead of Amos Kendall, whose
lieutenants were the brilliant but vindicative Isaac Hill,
of New Hampshire ; the scholarly Nathaniel Greene, of
Massachusetts ; the conservative Gideon Welles, of
Connecticut; the jovial Major Mordecai M. Noah, of
New York, and the energetic Dabney S. Carr, of Mary-
land, the allied editors claimed their rewards. They
were not to be appeased by sops of Government adver-
tising, or by the appointment of publisher of the laws
of the United States in the respective States, but they
demanded some of the most lucrative public offices as
their share of the spoils. No sooner did General Jack-
son reach Washington then they made a systematic
attack upon him, introducing and praising one another,
and reciprocally magnifying their faithful services
during the canvass so successfully ended. The result
was that soon after the inauguration nearly fifty of
those editors who had advocated his election were ap-
pointed to official Federal positions as rewards for politi-
cal services rendered.
Official Decapitations. 97
Up to that time the national elections in the United
States had not been mere contests for the possession of
Federal offices — there was victory and there was defeat ;
but the quadrennial encounters affected only the heads
of departments, and the results were matters of com-
parative indifference to the subordinate official drudges
whose families depended on their pay for meat and
bread. A few of these department clerks were Revolu-
tionary worthies ; others had followed the Federal
Government from New York or Philadelphia ; all had
expected to hold their positions for life. Some of these
desk-slaves had originally been Federalists, others
Democrats ; and while there was always an Alexander
Hamilton in every family of the one set, there was as
invariably a Thomas Jefferson in every family of the
other set. But no subordinate clerk had ever been
troubled on account of his political faith by a change
of the Administration, and the sons generally succeeded
their fathers when they died or resigned. Ordinarily,
these clerks were good penmen and skillful accountants,
toiling industriously eight hours every week day with-
out dreaming of demanding a month's vacation in the
summer, or insisting upon their right to go to their
homes to vote in the fall. National politics was to
them a -matter of profound indifference until, after the
inauguration of General Jackson, hundreds of them
found themselves decapitated by the Democratic guillo-
tine, without qualifications for any other employment
had ths limited trade of Washington afforded any.
Many of them were left in a pitiable condition, but
when the Telegraph was asked what these men could
do to ward off starvation, the insolent reply was, " Root,
hog, or die !" Some of the new political brooms swept
clean, and made a great show of reform, notably Amos
7
g8 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Kendall, who was appointed Fourth Auditor of the
Treasury, and who soon after exulted over the discovery
of a defalcation of a few hundred dollars in the accounts
of his predecessor, Dr. Tobias Watkins.
Postmaster-General McLean, of Ohio, who had been
avowedly a Jackson man while he was a member of
Mr. Adams' Administration, rebelled against the re-
moval of several of his most efficient subordinates
because of their political action during the preceding
Presidential campaign. At last he flatly told General
Jackson that if he must remove those postmasters
who had taken an active part in politics, he should
impartially turn out those who had worked to secure
the election of General Jackson, as well as those who
had labored to re-elect Mr. Adams. To this General
Jackson at first made no reply, but rose from his seat,
puffing away at his pipe ; and after walking up and
down the floor two or three times, he stopped in front
of his rebellious Postmaster-General, and said, " Mr.
McLean, will you accept a seat upon the bench of the
Supreme Court?" The judicial position thus tendered
was accepted with thanks, and the Post-Office Depart-
ment was placed under the direction of Major Barry,
who was invited to take a seat in the Cabinet (never
occupied by his predecessors) , and who not only made
the desired removals and appointments, but soon
plunged the finances of the Department into a chaotic
state of disorder.
Prominent among those " Jackson men " who re-
ceived lucrative mail contracts from Postmaster-General
Barry, was " Land Admiral " Reeside, an appellation
he owed to the executive ability which he had displayed
in organizing mail routes between distant cities. He
was a very tall man, well formed, with florid complex-
An Accommodating Official.
99
ion red hair, and side whiskers. Very obligingly, he
once had a horse belonging to a Senator taken from
Pittsburg to Washington tied behind a stage, because
the owner had affixed his "frank" to the animal's
halter. He was the first mail contractor who ran his
stages between Philadelphia and the West, by night as
well as by day, and Mr. Joseph R. Chandler, of the
United States Gazette, said that " the Admiral could
FIRST RAILROAD CAR.
leave Philadelphia on a six-horse coach with a hot
johnny-cake in his pocket and reach Pittsburg before
it could grow cold." He used to ridicule the locomo-
tives when they were first introduced, and offer to bet a
thousand dollars that no man could build a machine
that would drag a stage from Washington to Baltimore
quicker than his favorite team of iron-grays.
Mail robberies were not uncommon in those days,
although the crime was punishable with imprisonment
or death. One day one of Reeside's coaches was
stopped near Philadelphia by three armed men, who
100
Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
ordered the nine passengers to alight and stand in a
line. One of the robbers then mounted guard, while
the other two made the terrified passengers deliver up
their money and watches, and then rifled the mail bags.
They were soon afterward arrested, tried, convicted, and
one was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary,
while the other two were condemned to be hung. For-
tunately for one of the culprits, named Wilson, he had
FIRST LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE.
some years previously, at a horse-race near Nashville,
Tennessee, privately advised General Jackson to with-
draw his bets on a horse which he was backing, as the
jockey had been ordered to lose the race. The General
was very thankful for this information, which enabled
him to escape a heavy loss, and he promised his infor-
mant that he would befriend him whenever an oppor-
tunity should offer. When reminded of this promise,
Opposition to Sunday Mails. 101
after Wilson had been sentenced to be hanged, Jackson
promptly commuted the sentence to ten years imprison-
ment in the penitentiary.
When Admiral Reeside was carrying the mails be-
tween New York and Washington, there arose a formid-
able organization in opposition to the Sunday mail
service. The members of several religious denomina-
tions were prominent in their demonstrations, and
in Philadelphia, chains, secured by padlocks, were
stretched across the streets on Sundays to prevent the
passage of the mail-coaches. The subject was taken up
by politicians, and finally came before the House of
Representatives, where it was referred to the Committee
on Post-Roads, of which Richard M. Johnson, of Ken-
tucky, was then the chairman. The Rev. Obadiah B.
Brown, who had meanwhile been promoted in the Post-
office Department, wrote a report on the subject for
Colonel Johnson, which gave " the killer of Tecumseh "
an extended reputation, and was the first step toward
his election as Vice-President, a few years later.
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN was born in South Carolina, March i8th, 1782 : was a Representative
in Congress, 1811-1817; Secretary of War, 1817-1825; Vice-President, 1825-1832; United States
Senator, 1833-1843 ; Secretary of State, 1844-1845 ; United States Senator from 1845 until his death
at Washington City, March 3151, 1850.
CHAPTER VII.
THE KITCHEN CABINET.
JACKSON'S FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE— THE KITCHEN CABINET — BLAIR, OP
THE GLOBE — WASHINGTON NEWSPAPERS AND NEWS — THE FIRST LADY-
BIRD OF THE PRESS — NATHANIEL P. WILLIS — PETER FORCE— SOCIAL
ENJOYMENTS — MRS. TROLLOPE ON WASHINGTON SOCIETY — ATTEMPT
TO OUST A VETERAN FROM OFFICE— PAYMENT OF THE CLAIMS ON
FRANCE.
WHEN the Twenty-first Congress assembled,
on the yth of December, 1829, General
Jackson sent in his first annual message,
which naturally attracted some attention. Meeting his
old and intimate friend, General Armstrong, the next
day, the President said, " Well, Bob, what do the
people say of my message ?" " They say," replied
General Armstrong, " that it is first-rate, but nobody
believes that you wrote it." ' Well," good-naturedly
replied Old Hickory, a don't I deserve just as
much credit for picking out the man who could
write it ?" Although the words of this and of the sub-
sequent messages were not General Jackson's, the
ideas were, and he always insisted on having them
clearly expressed. It was in his first message, by the
way, that he invited the attention of Congress to the
fact that the charter of the United States Bank would
expire in 1836, and asserted that it had " failed in the
great end of establishing a uniform and sound cur-
rency." This was the beginning of that fierce political
102
" Old Hickory" at Home. 103
contest which, resulted in the triumph of General Jack-
son and the overthrow of the United States Bank.
General Jackson rarely left the White House, where
he passed the greater portion of his time in his office in
the second story, smoking a corn-cob pipe with a long
reed stem. He was at the commencement of his Presi-
dential term sixty-two years of age, tall, spare, with a
high forehead, from which his gray hair was brushed
back, a decisive nose, searching, keen eyes, and, when
good-natured, an almost childlike expression about his
mouth. A self-reliant, prejudiced, and often very iras-
cible old man, it was a very difficult task to manage
him. Some of his Cabinet advisers made it a point to
be always with him, to prevent others from ingratiating
themselves into his good will, and they were thus
chronicled in a ballad of the time :
" King Andrew had five trusty 'squires,
Whom he held his bid to do ;
He also had three pilot-fish,
To give the sharks their cue.
There was Mat and Lou and Jack and I/ev,
And Roger, of Taney hue,
And Blair, the book,
And Kendall, chief cook,
And Isaac, surnamed the true."
Mat. Van Buren was Secretary of State, Lou. McLane
Secretary of the Treasury, John Branch was Secretary
of the Navy, Lev. Woodbury was his successor, and
Roger B. Taney was Attorney-General. Blair, Ken-
dall, and Isaac Hill were also known as " the kitchen
cabinet."
The confidential advisers of General Jackson lost no
time in establishing a daily newspaper which would
speak his sentiments and sound a key-note for the
guidance of his followers. The Washington Globe was
IO4 Perleys Reminiscences.
accordingly started on an immediate paying basis, as it
had the name of every Federal office-holder whose
salary exceeded one thousand dollars on its subscription
list. The paper was sent them, and in due time the
bill for a year. If a remittance was made, well and
good ; if payment was refused, the delinquent was told
informally that he could pay his subscription to the
Globe, or be replaced by some one else who would pay
it. It was owned and edited by Blair & Rives, Rives
attending to the business department of the establish-
ment. Mr. Blair had been the partner of Amos Ken-
dall in the publication of the Frankfort Argus, and
they had both deserted Henry Clay when they enlisted
in the movement which gave the electoral vote of Ken-
tucky to General Jackson, and joined in the cry of
" bargain and corruption " raised against their former
friend. It is related that the first interview between
Clay and Blair after this desertion was a very
awkward one for the latter, who felt that he had
behaved shabbily. Clay had ridden over on horseback
from Lexington to Frankfort, in the winter season, on
legal business, and on alighting from his horse at the
tavern door found himself confronting Blair, who was
just leaving the house. " How do you do, Mr. Blair ?"
inquired the great commoner, in his silvery tones and
blandest manner, at the same time extending his hand.
Blair mechanically took the tendered hand, but was
evidently nonplussed, and at length said, with an evi-
dent effort, " Pretty well, I thank you, sir. How did
you find the roads from Lexington here ?" '* The
roads are very bad, Mr. Blair," graciously replied Clay,
" very bad ; and I wish, sir, that you would mend your
ways."
Mr. Blair made it a rule to defend in the columns of
Slow Moving Mails. 105
the Globe the acts of Jackson's Administration, right or
wrong, and he waged merciless warfare against those
who opposed them. When Colonel William R. King,
of Alabama, once begged him to soften an attack upon
an erring Democrat, Mr. Blair replied, " No ! let it tear
his heart out." With all his political insolence, how-
ever, he possessed remarkable kindness, and a more in-
dulgent father and truer friend was never known in
Washington.
It was this remarkable combination of qualities
which gave this same Mr. Blair a peculiar conspicuity
near the close of the Civil War. Acting solely on his
own responsibility, he went to Richmond, where he
obtained from Jefferson Davis, his personal friend, a
letter declaring his willingness to enter into an official
conference for the restoration of peace. This led to the
famous Hampton Roads conference, which President
Lincoln attended in person, meeting several distin-
guished Southern leaders, but it did not produce any
direct result on the war.
The Washington papers, up to this time, contained
very little of what has since been known as local news.
A parade, an inauguration, or the funeral of a distin-
guished person would receive brief mention, but the
pleasant gossip of the day was entirely ignored, and
mail facilities were poor. It was then necessary for
the correspondent of a paper in a northern city to
mail his letter at the post-office before twelve o'clock
at night to insure its departure by the early morning's
mail northward. Letters written to New York did not,
consequently, appear until the second day after they
were written, while those sent to Boston rarely ap-
peared before the fourth day. The people then were
better posted as to what transpired at the Nation's
io6 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Capital than they are now, when dispatches can be
sent in a few moments at any time of day or night.
Mrs. Anne Royall began an enterprise in personal
literature. She managed to secure an old Raniage
printing-press and a font of battered long-primer type,
with which, aided by runaway apprentices and tramp-
ing journeymen printers, she published, on Capitol
Hill, for several years, a small weekly sheet called the
Huntress. Every person of any distinction who visited
Washington received a call from Mrs. Royall, and if
they subscribed for the Huntress they were described
in the next number in a complimentary manner, but if
they declined she abused them without mercy. When
young she was a short, plump, and not bad-looking
woman, but as she advanced in years her flesh disap-
peared, and her nose seemed to increase in size ; but
her piercing black eyes lost none of their fire, while
her tongue wagged more abusively when her temper
was roused. John Quincy Adams described her as
going about " like a virago-errant in enchanted armor,
redeeming herself from the cramps of indigence by
the notoriety of her eccentricities and the forced cur-
rency they gave to her publications."
Mrs. Royall's tongue at last became so unendurable
that she was formally indicted by the Grand Jury as a
common scold, and was tried in the Circuit Court be-
fore Judge Cranch. His Honor charged the jury at
length, reviewing the testimony and showing that, if
found guilty, she must be ducked, in accordance with
the Knglish law in force in the District of Columbia.
The jury found her guilty, but her counsel begged his
Honor, the Judge, to weigh the matter and not be the
first to introduce a ducking-stool. The plea prevailed
and she was let off with a fine.
Early "Society Letters"
107
The first " Society Letters," as they are called, writ-
ten from Washington, were by Nathaniel P. Willis, to
the New York Mirror. Willis was at that time a fop-
pish, slender young man, with a profusion of curly, light
hair, and was always dressed in the height of fashion.
He had, while traveling in Europe, mingled with the
aristocratic classes, and he affected to look down upon
the masses ; but with all his snobbishness he had a
wonderful faculty for
endowing trifling oc-
currences with inter-
est, and his letters
have never been sur-
passed. He possess-
ed a sunny nature,
full of poetry, enthu-
siasm, and cheerful-
ness, and was always
willing to say a plea-
sant word for those
who treated him
kindly, and never
sought to retaliate
on his enemies.
Willis first introduced steel pens at Washington,
having brought over from England some of those
made by Joseph Gillott, at Birmingham. Before this
goose-quill pens had been exclusively used, and there
was in each House of Congress and in each Depart-
ment a penmaker, who knew what degree of flexibility
and breadth of point each writer desired. Every gen-
tleman had to carry a penknife, and to have in his
desk a hone to sharpen it on, giving the finishing
touches on one of his boots. Another new invention
NATHANIEL P. WILLIS.
io8 Per ley 's Reminiscences.
of that epoch was the lucifer match-box, which super-
seded the large tin tinder-box with its flint and steel.
The matches were in the upper portion of a pasteboard
case about an inch in diameter and six inches in length
and in a compartment beneath them was a. bottle
containing a chemical preparation, into which the
brimstone-coated end of the match was dipped and thus
ignited.
The Mayor of Washington, during a portion of
the Jackson Administration, was Peter Force, a noble
specimen of those who, before the existence of trades
unions, used to serve an apprenticeship to the " art
preservative of arts," and graduate from the printing-
office qualified to fill any political position. Fond of
American history, Mr. Force, while printing the Bien-
nial Register, better known as the Blue Book from the
color of its binding, began to collect manuscripts,
books, and pamphlets, many of which had been thrown
away in the executive departments as rubbish, and
were purchased by him from the dealers in waste paper.
In 1833 he originated the idea of compiling and pub-
lishing a documentary history of the country, under
the title of the American Archives, and issued a num-
ber of large folio volumes, the profits going to the
politicians who secured the necessary appropriations
from Congress. He was emphatically a gentleman —
tall, stalwart, with bushy black hair, and large, expres-
sive eyes, which would beam with joy whenever a
friend brought him a rare autograph or pamphlet.
Assemblies were held once a week between Christ"
mas Day and Ash Wednesday, to which all of the
respectable ladies of the city who danced were invited.
It was also customary for those of the Cabinet officers
and other high officials who kept house to give at least
Customs at Parties. 109
one evening party during each session of Congress,
invitations for which were issued. The guests at these
parties used to assemble at about eight o'clock, and
after taking off their wraps in an upper room they
descended to the parlor, where the host and hostess
received them. The older men then went to the punch-
bowl to criticise the " brew " which it contained, while
the young people found their way to the dining-room,
almost invariably devoted to dancing. The music was
a piano and two violins, and one of the musicians
called the figures for the cotillions and contra-dances.
Those who did not dance elbowed their way through
the crowd, conversing with acquaintances, the men
frequently taking another glass of punch. At ten the
guests were invited to the supper-table, which was often
on the wide back porch which every Washington house
had in those days. The table was always loaded with
evidences of the culinary skill of the lady of the house.
There was a roast ham at one end, a saddle of venison
or mutton at the other end, and some roasted poultry or
wild ducks midway ; a great variety of home-baked
cake was a source of pride, and there was never any
lack of punch, with decanters of Madeira. The diplo-
mats gave champagne, but it was seldom seen except
at the legations. At eleven there was a general
exodus, and after the usual scramble for hats, cloaks,
and over-shoes the guests entered their carriages.
Sometimes a few intimate friends of the hostess lin-
gered to enjoy a contra-dance or to take a parting
drink of punch, but by midnight the last guest de-
parted, and the servants began to blow out the candles
with which the house had been illuminated.
In Jackson's first . Administration the country was
shocked by the appearance of a book entitled, The
no Perley^s Reminiscences.
Domestic Manners of Americans, by Mrs. Frances
Trollope. She was a bright little Englishwoman, who
had come to this country and established a bazaar at
Cincinnati, which proved a failure. So she sought
revenge and wealth by a caricature sketch of our pio-
neer life, founded on fact, but very unpalatable. Ex-
pectoration was her pet abomination, and she was in-
clined to think that this " most vile and universal habit
of chewing tobacco " was the cause of a remarkable
peculiarity in the male physiognomy of Americans, the
almost uniform thinness and compression of their lips.
So often did Mrs. Trollope recur to this habit that she
managed to give one the impression that this country
was in those days a sort of huge spittoon.
Mrs. Trollope first called attention to the fact that
the American women did not consult the season in
either the colors or style of their costumes, never
wore boots, and walked in the middle of winter with
their pretty little feet pinched into miniature slippers
incapable of excluding as much moisture as might
bedew a primrose.
Removals from office that places might be provided
for Jackson men were the order of the day, but Presi-
dent Jackson was not disposed to displace any veteran
soldier. Among other victims designated for removal
by the politicians was General Solomon Van Rensselaer,
whose gallant services against Great Britain in the War
of 1812 had been rewarded by an election to the House
of Representatives, followed by his appointment as
Postmaster of Albany. He was a decided Federalist,
and the petition for his removal was headed by Martin
Van Buren and Silas Wright.
Visiting Washington, General Van Rensselaer re-
ceived a cordial greeting from General Jackson at a
Wounds Win the Day. in
public reception, and then, taking a seat in a corner, he
waited until the room was cleared, when he again
approached the President, saying : " General Jackson,
I have come here to talk to you about my office. The
politicians want to take it from me, and they know I
have nothing else to live upon." The President made
no reply, till the aged Postmaster began to take off his
coat in the most excited manner, when Old Hickory
broke out with the inquiry : ' What in Heaven's name
are you going to do ? Why do you take off your coat
here ?" " Well, sir, I am going to show you my
wounds, which I received in fighting for my country
against the English !" " Put it on at once, sir !" was
the reply ; " I am surprised that a man of your age
should make such an exhibition of himself," and the
eyes of the iron President were suffused with tears, as,
without another word, he bade his ancient foe good
evening.
The next day Messrs. Van Buren and Wright called
at the White House and were shown up into the Presi-
dent's room, where they found him smoking a clay
pipe. Mr. Wright soon commenced to solicit the re-
moval of General Van Rensselaer, asserting that he
had been known as a very active advocate of John
Quincy Adams ; that he had literally forfeited his
place by his earnest opposition to the Jackson men,
and that if he were not removed the new Administration
would be seriously injured. He had hardly finished
the last sentence, when Jackson sprang to his feet,
flung his pipe into the fire, and exclaimed with great
vehemence, " I take the consequences, sir ; I take the
consequences. By the Eternal 1 I will not remove the
old man — I cannot remove him. Why, Mr. Wright,
do you not know that he carries more than a pound of
112
Perley>s Reminiscences.
British lead in his body ?" That settled the question,
and General Van Rensselaer remained undisturbed as
Postmaster at Albany through the Jackson Adminis-
tration, although Martin Van Buren, when he came
into power, promptly " bounced " him.
General Jackson's defiant disposition was manifested
when, in a message to Congress, he recommended that
a law be passed authorizing reprisals upon French
FAMOUS EAST ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE.
property in case provision should not be made for the
payment of the long-standing claims against France
at the approaching session of the French Chambers.
Some of his Cabin 2t, having deemed this language too
strong, had prevailed upon the President's private sec-
retary, Major Donelson, to modify it, and to make it
less irritating and menacing. No sooner was it dis-
covered by General Jackson than he flew into a
great excitement, and when Mr. Rives entered his
French Spoliation Claims. 113
private office to obtain it for printing, he found the old
General busily engaged in re-writing it according to
the original copy. " I know them French," said he.
" They won't pay unless they're made to."
The French people were indignant when this mes-
sage reached Paris, and when the Chamber of Deputies
finally provided for the payment of the claims, a pro-
viso was inserted ordering the money to be withheld
until the President of the United States had apologized
for the language used. This General Jackson flatly
refused to do, and the " Ancient Allies " of the Revo-
lution were on the verge of hostilities, when both
nations agreed to submit their differences to Great
Britain. The affair was speedily arranged, and France
paid five millions of dollars for French spoliations into
the Treasury of the United States, where it has since
remained.
SILAS WRIGHT, JR., was born at Amherst, Massachusetts, May 24th, 1793 : was a Representative
from New York in Congress, 1827-1829 ; Comptroller of New York, 1829-18^3; United States Sen-
ator, 1833-1844 ; Governor of New York, 1844-1846 ; retired to his farm at Canton, New York, ami
died there, August 27th, 1847.
CHAPTER VIII.
BATTLE OF THE GIANTS.
THE GREAT SENATORIAL DEBATE — ATTACK ON NEW ENGLAND — WEB-
STER'S REPLY TO HAYNE — NULLIFICATION NIPPED IN THE BUD—
SOCIETY IN JACKSON'S DAY — MRS. GENERAL EATON — A CHIVALROUS
PRESIDENT — THEATRICALS — THE GREAT TRAGEDIAN — MINORAMUSE-
MENTS — EXECUTIVE CHARITY — SWARTWOUTING — THE STAR-SPAN-
GLED BANNER.
AN unimportant resolution concerning the public
lands, introduced into the Senate early in 1830
by Senator Foote, of Connecticut (the father
of Admiral Foote), led to a general debate, which has
been since known as " the battle of the giants." The
discussion embraced all the partisan issues of the time,
especially those of a sectional nature, including the
alleged rights of a State to set the Federal Government
at defiance. The State Rights men in South Carolina,
instigated by Mr. Calhoun, had been active during the
preceding summer in collecting material for this dis-
cussion, and they had taken especial pains to request a
search for evidence that Mr. Webster had shown a will-
ingness to have New England secede from the Union
during the second war with Great Britain. The vicinity
of Portsmouth, where he had resided when he entered
public life, was, to use his own words, "searched as with
a candle. New Hampshire was explored from the mouth
of the Merrimack to the White Hills."
Nor had Mr. Webster been idle. He was not an ex-
114
Webster and Hayne
temporaneous speaker, and he passed the summer in
carefully studying, in his intervals of professional
duties, the great constitutional question which he after-
ward so brilliantly discussed. A story is told at Provi-
dence about a distinguished lawyer of that place — Mr.
John Whipple — who was at Washington when Webster
replied to Hayne, but who did not hear the speech, as
he was engaged in a case before the Supreme Court
when it was delivered.
When a report of
what Mr. Webster had
said appeared in print,
Mr. Whipple read it,
and was haunted by
the idea that he had
heard or read it be-
fore. Meeting Mr.
Webster soon after-
ward, he mentioned
this idea to him and
inquired whether it
could possibly have
any foundation in fact.
"Certainly it has," re-
plied Mr. Webster.
" Don't you remember our conversations during the
long walks we took together last summer at Newport,
while in attendance on Story's court?" It flashed
across Mr. Whipple's mind that Mr. Webster had then
rehearsed the legal argument of his speech and had
invited criticism.
As the debate on the Foote resolution progressed, it
revealed an evident intention to attack New England,
and especially Massachusetts. This brought Mr. Web-
DANIEL WEBSTER.
n6
Perley^s Reminiscences.
ter into the arena, and he concluded a brief speech by
declaring that, as a true representative of the State
which had sent him into the Senate, it was his duty,
and a duty which he should fulfill, to place her history
and her conduct, her honor and her character, in their
just and proper light. A few days later, Mr. Webster
heard his State and himself mercilessly attacked by
General Hayne, of South Carolina, no mean antago-
nist. The son of a
Revolutionary hero
who had fallen a vic-
tim to British cruelty,
highly educated, with
a slender, graceful
form, fascinating de-
portment, and a well-
trained, mellifluous
voice, the haughty
South Carolinian en-
tered the lists of the
political tournament
like Saladin to oppose
the Yankee Cceur de
GENERAL ROBERT Y. HAYNE.
Lion.
When Mr. Webster
went to the Senate Chamber to reply to General Hayne,
on Tuesday, January 2oth, 1830, he felt himself
master of the situation. Always careful about his
personal appearance when he was to address an audi-
ence, he wore on that day the Whig uniform, which
had been copied by the Revolutionary heroes — a blue
dress-coat with bright buttons, a buff waistcoat, and
a high, white cravat. Neither was he insensible to
the benefits to be derived from publicity, and he had
n8 Perley s Reminiscences.
sent a request to Mr. Gales to report what he was to
say himself, rather than to send one of his stenog-
raphers. The most graphic account of the scene in
the Senate Chamber during the delivery of the speech
was subsequently written virtually from Mr. Webster's
dictation. Perhaps, like Mr. Healy's picture of the
scene, it is rather high-colored.
Sheridan, after his forty days' preparation, did not
commence his scathing impeachment of Warren Hast-
ings with more confidence than was displayed by Mr.
Webster when he stood up, in the pride of his man-
hood, and began to address the interested mass of
talent, intelligence, and beauty around him. A man
of commanding presence, with a well-knit, sturdy
frame, swarthy features, a broad, thoughtful forehead,
courageous eyes gleaming from beneath shaggy eye-
brows, a quadrangular breadth of jawbone, and a mouth
which bespoke strong will, he stood like a sturdy
Roundhead sentinel on guard before the gates of the
Constitution. Holding in profound contempt what is
termed spread-eagle oratory, his only gesticulations
were up-and-down motions of his arm, as if he was
beating out with sledge-hammers his forcible ideas.
His peroration was sublime, and every loyal American
heart has since echoed the last words, " Liberty and
union — now and forever — one and inseparable!"
Mr. Webster's speech, carefully revised by himself,
was not published until the 23d of February, and large
editions of it were circulated throughout the Northern
States. The debate was continued, and it was the 2ist
of May before Colonel Benton, who had been the first
defamer of New England, brought it to a close. The
Northern men claimed for Mr. Webster the superiority,
but General Jackson praised the speech of Mr. Hayne,
Jackson on State Rights. 119
and deemed his picture worthy to occupy a place in the
White House, thus giving expression to the general
sentiment among the Southerners. This alarmed Mr.
Van Buren, who was quietly yet shrewdly at work to
defeat the further advancement of Mr. Calhoun, and
he lost no time in demonstrating to the imperious old
soldier who occupied the Presidential chair that the
South Carolina doctrine of nullification could but
prove destructive to the Union.
Mr. Calhoun was not aware of this intrigue, and, in
order to strengthen his State Rights policy, he organized
a public dinner on the anniversary of Jefferson's birth-
day, April 1 3th, 1830. When the toasts which were to
be proposed were made public in advance, according to
the custom, it was discovered that several of them were
strongly anti-tariff and State Rights in sentiment — so
much so that a number of Pennsylvania tariff Demo-
crats declined to attend, and got up a dinner of their
own. General Jackson attended the dinner, but he
went late and retired early, leaving a volunteer toast,
which he had carefully prepared at the White House,
and which fell like a damper upon those at the dinner,
while it electrified the North, " The Federal Union —
it must and shall be maintained !" This toast, which
could not be misunderstood, showed that General Jack-
son would not permit himself to be placed in the atti-
tude of a patron of doctrines which could lead only to
a dissolution of the Federal Government. But the
Committee on Arrangements toned it down, so that it
appeared in the official report of the dinner, " Our
Federal Union — it must be preserved !"
This was a severe blow to Mr. Calhoun, who had
labored earnestly to break down Mr. Adams' Adminis-
tration, without respect to its measures, that a Demo-
I2O Perley^s Reminiscences.
cratic party might be built up which would first elect
General Jackson, and then recognize Calhoun as legiti-
mate successor to the Presidential chair. His discom-
fiture was soon completed by the publication of a letter
from Mr. Crawford, which informed the President that
Calhoun, when in the Cabinet of Monroe, proposed that
" General Jackson should be punished in some form "
for his high-handed military rule in Florida. Van
Buren secretly fanned the flames of General Jackson's
indignation, and adroitly availed himself of a " tempest
in a tea-pot " to complete the downfall of his rival.
The woman used as a tool by Mr. Van Buren for the
overthrow of Mr. Calhoun's political hopes was a pic-
turesque and prominent figure in Washington society
then and during the next fifty years. The National
Metropolis in those days resembled, as has been well
said, in recklessness and extravagance, the spirit of the
.English seventeenth century, so graphically portrayed
in Thackeray ^s Htimorist, rather than the dignified caste
of the nineteenth cycle of Christianity. Laxity of
morals and the coolest disregard possible characterized
that period of our existence.
Mrs. General Eaton ruled Andrew Jackson as com-
pletely as he ruled the Democratic party. She was the
daughter of William O'Neill, a rollicking Irishman,
who was in his day the landlord of what was then the
leading public house in Washington City. Among
other Congressmen who were guests there was Andrew
Jackson, then a Senator from Tennessee. It was here
he became interested in the landlord's brilliant
daughter Margaret, called by her friends " Peg "
O'Neill. Before she was sixteen years of age she
married a handsome naval officer, John Bowie Timber-
lake. He died — some say that he committed suicide —
Attack on Jackson.
121
at Port Mahon, in 1828, leaving his accounts as purser
in a very mixed condition. • After the death of Timber-
lake, Commodore Patterson ordered Lieutenant Ran-
dolph to take the purser's books and perform the duties
LIEUTENANT RANDOLPH'S ATTACK ON JACKSON.
of purser. On the return home of the Constitution it
was discovered that Timberlake or Randolph was a
defaulter to the Government to a very large amount.
A court of inquiry was held on Randolph and he was
122 Per ley's Reminiscences.
acquitted, but Amos Kendall, the Fourth Auditor of
the Treasury Department, charged the defalcation to
Randolph. President Jackson, notwithstanding the
decision of the court, dismissed Lieutenant Randolph
from the Navy, and refused to give him a hearing.
The Lieutenant, infuriated by disgrace and pecuniary
ruin, in a state of excitement pulled the President's
nose in the cabin of a steamboat at the Alexandria
wharf. He was immediately seized and thrust on shore,
the President declaring that he was able to punish him.
He charged that Jackson dismissed him and sustained
Kendall's decision in order to save General Baton, who
was Timberlake's bondsman, from having to make
good the defalcation.
General Baton, who had boarded with his friend,
General Jackson, at O'Neill's tavern, soon afterward
married the Widow Timberlake, who was then one of
those examples of that Irish beauty, which, marked by
good blood, so suggests both the Greek and the Span-
iard, and yet at times presents a combination which
transcends both. Her form, of medium height,
straight and delicate, was of perfect proportions. Her
skin was of that delicate white, tinged with red, which
one often sees among even the poorer inhabitants of
the Green Isle. Her dark hair, very abundant, clustered
in curls about her broad, expressive forehead. Her
perfect nose, of almost Grecian proportions, and finely
curved mouth, with a firm, round chin, completed a
profile of faultless outlines. She was in Washington
City what Aspasia was in Athens — the cynosure by
whose reflected radiance
" Beauty lent her smile to wit,
And learning by her star was lit."
General Jackson had come to Washington with a sad
Mrs. General Eaton.
123
heart, breathing vengeance against those who had de«
famed his wife during the Presidential canvass, thereby,
as he thought, hastening her death. This made him
the sworn and unyielding foe of all slanderers of
women, and when some of the female tabbies of the
Capital began to drag the name of his old friend
" Peg," then the wife of General Baton, through
the mire, he was naturally indignant, and showed his
respect for her by hav-
ing her a frequent
guest at the White
House. Enchanting,
ambitious, and un-
scrupulous, she soon
held the old hero com-
pletely under her in-
fluence, and carried
her griefs to him. Mr.
Van Buren adroitly
seconded her, and the
gallant old soldier
swore " by the Eter-
nal" that the scandal-
mongers who had em-
bittered the last years
of his beloved wife, Rachel, should not triumph ovet
his "little friend Peg."
This was Van Buren's opportunity. He was a wid-
ower, keeping house at Washington, and as Secretary
of State he was able to form an alliance with the bach-
elor Ministers of Great Britain and Russia, each of
whom had spacious residences. A series of dinners,
balls, and suppers was inaugurated at these three
houses » and at each successive entertainment Mrs.
MRS. EATON AT SIXTY-FOUR.
124 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
Baton was the honored guest, who led the contra-
dance, and occupied the seat at table on the right of the
host. Some respectable ladies were so shocked by her
audacity that they would leave a room when she
entered it. She was openly denounced by clergymen,
and she found herself in positions which would have
covered almost any other woman in Washington with
shame. Mrs. Baton, who apparently did not possess a
scruple as to the propriety of her course, evidently
enjoyed the situation, and used to visit General Jackson
every day with a fresh story of the insults paid her.
Yet she gave no evidences of diplomacy nor of political
sagacity, but was a mere beautiful, passionate, impul-
sive puppet, held up by General Jackson, while Mr.
Van Buren adroitly pulled the strings that directed her
movements.
Mr. Calhoun, whose wife was foremost among those
ladies who positively refused to associate with Mrs.
Baton, said to a friend of General Jackson's, who
endeavored to effect a reconciliation, that u the quarrels
of women, like those of the Medes and Persians,
admitted of neither inquiry nor explanation." He
knew well, however, that it was no women's quarrel,
but a political game of chess played by men who were
using women as their pawns, and he lost the game.
Van Buren and Baton next tendered their resignations
as Cabinet officers, which General Jackson refused to
accept ; whereupon the Cabinet officers whose wives
declined to call on Mrs. Baton resigned, and their res-
ignations were promptly accepted. The whole city
was in a turmoil. Angry men walked about with
bludgeons, seeking " satisfaction ;" duels were talked
of ; old friendships were severed ; and every fresh
indignity offered his " little friend Peg " endeared her
The Great Tragedian.
125
the more to General Jackson, who was duly grateful to
Van Buren for having espoused her cause. " It is odd
enough," wrote Daniel Webster to a personal friend,
" that the consequences of this dispute in the social
and fashionable world are producing great political
effects, and may very probably determine who shall be
successor to the present Chief Magistrate."
Junius Brutus Booth was the delight of the Wash-
ington playgoers in
the Jackson Adminis-
tration. His wonder-
ful impersonations of
Richard III. lago,
King Lear, Othello,
Shylock, and Sir
Giles Overreach were
as grand as his private
life was intemperate
and eccentric. He was
a short, dumpy man,
with features resem-
bling those of the
Roman Emperors, be-
fore his nose was
broken in a quarrel,
and his deportment on the stage was imperially grand.
He had a farm in Maryland, and at one time he under-
took to supply a Washington hotel with eggs, milk,
and chickens, but he soon gave it up. His instant and
tremendous concentration of passion in his delineations
overwhelmed his audience and wrought it into such en-
thusiasm that it partook of the fever of inspiration
surging through his own veins. He was not lacking
in the power to comprehend and portray with marvelous
JUNIUS BRUTUS BOOTH.
126 Per ley's Reminiscences.
and exquisite delicacy the subtle shades of character
that Shakespeare loved to paint, and his impersonations
were a delight to the refined scholar as well as the
uncultivated backwoodsmen who crowded to his per-
formances.
The -Washington Theatre was not well patronized,
but the strolling proprietors of minor amusements
reaped rich harvests of small silver coin. The circus
paid its annual visit, to the joy of the rural Congress-
men and the negroes, who congregated around its saw-
dust ring, applauding each successive act of horseman-
ship and laughing at the repetition of the clown's old
jokes ; a daring rope-dancer, named Herr Cline, per-
formed his wonderful feats on the tight rope and on the
slack wire ; Finn gave annual exhibitions of fancy
glass-blowing ; and every one went to see " the living
skeleton," a tall, emaciated young fellow named Calvin
Edson, compared with whom Shakespeare's starved
apothecary was fleshy.
General Jackson turned a deaf ear to the numerous
applications made to him for charity. At one time
when he was President a large number of Irish immi-
grants were at work on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
in Georgetown, and, the weather being very hot, many
of them were prostrated by sunstroke and bilious
diseases. They were without medical aid, the necessi-
ties of life, or any shelter except the shanties in which
they were crowded. Their deplorable condition led to
the formation of a society of Irish-Americans, with the
venerable Mr. McLeod, a noted instructor, as president.
A committee from this Society waited on the President
for aid, and Mr. McLeod made known the object of
their, visit. General Jackson interrupted him by say-
ing that he " entirely disapproved of the Society ; that
Who Owns the Spoils?
the fact of its existence would induce these fellows to
come one hundred miles to get the benefit of it ; that
if the treasury of the United States were at his dis-
posal it could not meet the demands that were daily
made upon him, and he would not be driven from the
White House a beggar-man, like old Jim Monroe."
JAMES MONROE.
Colonel Samuel Swartwout, of Hoboken, was an old
personal friend of General Jackson, and when " the
Hickory Broom " began to sweep out the old office-
holders, in obedience to the maxim, "To the victors be-
long the spoils," the Colonel was an applicant for
the then lucrative position of Collector of the Port of
New York. Van Buren was against him, and used
many arguments with Jackson to prevent the appoint-
128 Per ley's Reminiscences.
ment ; but, after a patient hearing, Old Hickory closed
.the case by bringing his fist down upon the table
and exclaiming: " By the Bternal ! Sam. Swartwout
shall be Collector of the Port of New York !" He was
appointed and became the prey of political swindlers,
spending the public moneys right regally until his
accounts were overhauled, and he " Swartwouted " (to
use a word coined at the time) to avoid a criminal
prosecution. He remained abroad for many years, and
I think died in Europe.
Francis S. Key was' United States Attorney for the
district of Washington during the Jackson Administra-
tion. He was a small, active man, having an earnest
and even anxious expression of countenance, as if care
sat heavily upon him. In composing the heroic song
of the " Star-Spangled Banner," after he had witnessed
the unsuccessful night attack of the British on Fort
McHenry, he, in a measure, associated himself with
the glory of his country. He was a man of very
ardent religious character, and some of the most poetic
and popular of the hymns used in religious worship
were from his pen.
DANIEL WEBSTER was born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, January i8th, 1782 ; was a Representa-
tive from New Hampshire in Congress, 1813-1817, and removing to Boston, a Representative from
Massachusetts, 1823-1827; United States Senator, 1827-1841; Secretary ot State under Presidents
Harrison and Tyler, 1841-1843; United States Senator, 1845-1850; Secretary of State under Presi-
dent Fillmore from 1850 until his death at Marshfield, Massachusetts, October i4th, 1853.
CHAPTER IX.
THE STAMPING OUT OF NULLIFICATION.
REJECTION OP MARTIN VAN BUREN — THE WAR AGAINST THE UNITED
STATES BANK — NICK BIDDLE, OP THE BANK — RE-ELECTION OF GEN-
ERAL JACKSON — FINANCIAL DEBATES IN THE SENATE— CALHOUN,
OP SOUTH CAROLINA — SECESSION STAMPED OUT— UNION PROCLAMA-
TION— THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION— A SENATORIAL SCENE— AN
APPEAL FROM THE CHAIR.
THE rejection by the Senate of the nomination of
Martin Van Buren as Minister Plenipotentiary
to Great Britain, was an act of retributive
justice, carried out on the very spot where, five
years before, he had formed the combination which
overthrew the Administration of John Quincy Adams.
John C. Calhoun, who was the organizer of the re-
jection of Mr. Van Buren, thought that he had ob-
tained pledges of a sufficient number of votes ; but
just before the ayes and noes were called Mr. Webster
left the Senate Chamber, and going down into the
Supreme Court room remained there until the vote had
been taken. Mr. Calhoun consequently found himself
one vote short, and had to give the casting vote, as
President of the Senate, which rejected the nomination
of his rival, who was already in England, where he
had been received with marked attention.
Returning to the United States, Mr. Van Buren was
warmly welcomed at the White House as a victim of
Mr. Calhoun's opposition to the President, and he was
9 129
130 Perley^s Reminiscences.
soon recognized by the Democratic party as their heir-
apparent to the Presidency. His appearance at that
time was impressive. He was short, solidly built, with
a bald head, and with bushy side-whiskers, which
framed his florid features. He added the grace and
polish of aristocratic Bnglish society to his natural
courtesy, and it was his evident aim never to provoke
a controversy, while he used every exertion to win new
friends and to retain old ones. After he had been
elected Vice-President, he sat day after day in the chair
of the Senate, apparently indifferent alike to the keen
thrusts of Calhoun, the savage blows of Webster, and
the gibes of Clay. He well knew that General Jack-
son would regard every assault on him as aimed at the
Administration, and that his chances for the succession
would thereby be strengthened. Charges of political
chicanery were brought against him in shapes more
varied than those of Proteus and thick as the leaves
that strew the vale of Valombrosa ; but he inva-
riably extricated himself by artifice and choice man-
agement, earning the sobriquet of " the Little Magi-
cian." He could not be provoked into a loss of temper,
and he would not say a word while in the chair except
as connected with his duties as presiding officer, when
he spoke in gentle but persuasive tones, singularly
effective from the clearness of his enunciation and his
well-chosen emphasis.
Mr. Van Buren, who was then a widower, kept house
on Pennsylvania Avenue, about half way between the
White House and Georgetown, where he not only gave
dinner parties to his political friends, but entertained
their wives and daughters at evening whist parties.
Gentlemen and ladies were alike used for the advance-
ment of his schemes for the succession and for retain-
Van Buren1 s Diplomacy. 131
ing his position in the estimation of General Jackson.
On one occasion he said to Mrs. Baton that he had
been reading much and thinking deeply on the char-
acters of great men, and had come to the conclusion
that General Jackson was the greatest man that had
ever lived — the only man among them all who was
without a fault. "But," he added, "don't tell General
Jackson what I have said. I would not have him know
it for the world." Of course, it was not long before
Mrs. Baton repeated the conversation to General Jack-
son. " Ah, madam!" said Old Hickory, the tears start-
ing in his eyes, " that man loves me ; he tries to conceal
it, but there is always some way fixed by which I can
tell my friends from my enemies."
Mr. Van Buren was noted for his willingness to sign
applications for office, and he used to tell a good story
illustrating his readiness to oblige those who solicited
his aid. When Governor of the State of New York, a
lawyer called on him to get a convict pardoned from
the penitentiary, and stated the case, which was a clear
one. " Have you the papers ?" he asked. " If so, I will
sign them." " Here they are," said the lawyer, pro-
ducing a bulky document, and the Governor indorsed
them : " Let pardon be granted. M. Van Buren." He
then left for the office of the Secretary of State, but
soon returned. u Governor," said he, " I made a mis-
take, and you indorsed the wrong paper." He had
presented for the official indorsement the marriage set-
tlement of an Albany belle about to marry a spend-
thrift.
To ingratiate himself further with General Jackson,
and to strengthen the Democratic party, whose votes
he relied upon to elevate him to the Presidency, Mr.
Van Buren organized the war against the United States
132
Perley's Reminiscences.
RECEPTION OF DELEGATES.
Bank. General Jackson was opposed to this institution
before he became President, and it was not a difficult
task to impress upon his mind that the Bank was an
The United States Bank. 133
unconstitutional monopoly, which defied the legislative
acts of sovereign States, which was suborning the
leading newspapers and public men of the country, and
which was using every means that wealth, political chi-
canery, and legal cunning could devise to perpetuate its
existence. All this the honest old soldier in time be-
lieved, and it was then not difficult to impress him with a
desire to combat this " monster," as he called the Bank,
and to act as the champion of the people in killing the
dragon which was endeavoring to consume their for-
tunes. When a committee of wealthy business men
from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia waited on
him with a remonstrance against his financial policy,
he gave them such a reception that they felt very un-
comfortable and were glad to get away.
The Democratic politicians and presses heartily sec-
onded their chieftain in this war, promising the people
" Benton mint-drops instead of rag-money." Jackson
clubs were everywhere organized, having opposite to
the tavern or hall used as their headquarters a
hickory-tree, trimmed of all its foliage except a tuft at
the top. Torch-light processions, then organized for
the first time, used to march through the streets of the
city or village where they belonged, halting in front of
the houses of prominent Jackson men to cheer, while
before the residences of leading Whigs they would
often tarry long enough to give six or nine groans.
Editors of newspapers which supported the Adminis-
tration were forced to advocate its most ultra measures
and to denounce its opponents, or they were arraigned
as traitors, and if satisfactory excuses could not be
made, they were read out of the party. Among those
thus excommunicated was Mr. James Gordon Bennett,
who had edited the Philadelphia Pennsylvanian.
Jackson's Re-election. 135
Nicholas Biddle, its president, managed the affairs of
the Bank of the United States with consummate ability.
His trials in the bitter contest waged against him and
the institution which he represented were almost as
manifold as those that tested the patience of Job ; and
he bore them with equal meekness so far as temper was
concerned, but when duty required he never failed to
meet his opponents with decision and effect. The
Bank had to discount the worthless notes of a number
of Congressmen and editors, whose support, thus pur-
chased, did more harm than good. Mr. Biddle had also
incurred the hostility of Isaac Hill and other influen-
tial Jackson men because he would not remove the
non-partisan presidents and cashiers of the branches of
the Bank in their respective localities, and appoint in
their places zealous henchmen of the Administration.
General Jackson was triumphantly re-elected in
November, 1832, receiving two hundred and nineteen of
the two hundred and eighty-eight electoral votes cast,
while Martin Van Buren received one hundred and
eighty-nine electoral votes forVice-President. Massachu-
setts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maryland,
and Kentucky cast forty-nine electoral votes for Henry
Clay and John Sergeant. Vermont gave her seven
electoral votes for the anti-Masonic candidates, William
Wirt and William Ellmaker, while South Carolina be-
stowed her eleven electoral votes on John Floyd, of
Virginia, and Henry Lee, of Massachusetts, neither of
whom were nullifiers. Some of the Jackson news-
papers, while rejoicing over his re-election, nominated
him for a third term, and William Wirt wrote : " My
opinion is that he may be President for life if he
chooses."
The ordeal of re-election having been passed, Presi-
136 Perlefs Reminiscences.
dent Jackson and his supporters carried out the
gramme which had before been decided upon. The re-
moval of the Government deposits from the United
States Bank gave rise to stormy debates in Congress,
and the questionable exercise of Executive authority
met with a fierce, unrelenting opposition from the
Whigs.
The debates in the Senate on the Bank and attend-
ant financial questions were very interesting, but the
audiences were necessarily small. The circumscribed
accommodations of the Senate Chamber were insuffi-
cient, and while the ladies generally managed to secure
seats, either in the galleries or on the floor, the gentle-
men had to content themselves with uncomfortable
positions, leaning against pillars or peeping through
doorways. Mr. Van Buren, as Vice-President, presided
with great dignity, and endeavored to conciliate those
Senators who were his rivals for the succession, but he
had often to hear his political course mercilessly criti-
cised by them.
John C. Calhoun, who resigned the position of Vice-
President that he might be elected a Senator from
South Carolina, differed from his great contemporaries
in the possession of a private character above reproach.
Whether this arose from the preponderance of the in-
tellectual over the animal in his nature, or the subjec-
tion of his passions by discipline, was never determined
by those who knew the gifted Soiith Carolinian best ;
but such was the fact. His enemies could find no
opprobrious appellation for him but " Catiline," in-
stead of " Caldwell," which was his middle name — no
crime but ambition. He disregarded the unwritten
laws of the Senate, which required Senators to appear
in dress suits of black broadcloth, and asserted his
Calhoun1 s Eccentricities. 137
State pride and his State independence by wearing,
when the weather was warm, a suit of nankeen, made
from nankeen cotton grown in South Carolina. Mr.
Calhoun had a pale and attenuated look, as if in bad
health ; his long black hair was combed up from his
forehead and fell over the back of his head, and his
thin lips increased the effect of the acute look with
which he always regarded those around him. His
personal intercourse with friends was characterized by
great gentleness of manner; he was an affectionate
and a devoted husband and father, and Webster truly
remarked of him that " he had no recreations, and
never seemed to feel the necessity of amusement."
Disappointed in his aspirations for the Presidency
of the United States, Mr. Calhoun conceived the idea
of dissolving the Union and establishing a Southern
Confederacy, of which he would be the Chief Execu-
tive. One of his projects, fearing that the success of
the main plot would be too long delayed for any benefit
to inure to him, was a proposed amendment to the Con-
stitution, to make two Presidents exist at the same
time — one from the South and the other from the other
sections — and no act in regard to the interests of the
South was to be passed without the consent of the
President for that section. Of course, his plan was
looked upon as puerile, if not mischievous, and failed
to attract much attention. His whole soul was then
bent on his main scheme, and he enlisted warm, ardent,
and talented followers in behalf of it ; still, but little
headway was made in it outside of South Carolina.
President Jackson knew well what was going on, and
was determined that the law should be put into execu-
tion, not against misguided followers, but against Cal-
houn, the chief conspirator. Calhoun, hearing that
138 Perlefs Reminiscences.
Jackson had resolved on his prosecution and trial, and,
if convicted, his execution for treason, sent Letcher,
of Kentucky, to confer with him and to learn his real
intentions. The President received Letcher with his
usual courtesy ; but that mild blue eye, which at times
would fill with tears like that of a woman, was kindled
up that night with unwonted fire. He explained the
situation to Letcher, and concluded by telling him that,
if another step was taken, "by the Eternal!" he would
try Calhoun for treason, and, if convicted, he would
hang him on a gallows as high as Haman.
Letcher saw that Jackson was terribly in earnest,
and hastened to the lodgings of Calhoun, who had
retired, but received him sitting up in bed with his
cloak around him. Letcher detailed all that had oc-
curred, giving entire the conversation with Jackson,
and described the old hero as he took that oath.
There sat Calhoun, drinking in -eagerly every word,
and, as Letcher proceeded, he turned pale as death,
and, great as he was in intellect, trembled like an
aspen leaf, not from fear or cowardice, but from the
consciousness of guilt. He was the arch traitor, who,
like Satan in Paradise, " brought death into the world
and all our woe." Within one week he came into the
Senate and voted — voted for every section of Air.
Clay's bill — and President Jackson was prevailed upon
not to prosecute him for his crime.
During the last days of General Jackson at the
Hermitage, while slowly sinking under the ravages of
consumption, he was one day speaking of his Adminis-
tration, and with glowing interest he inquired of his
physician :
" What act in my Administration, in your opinion,
will posterity condemn with the greatest severity ?"
Nullification. 139
The physician replied that he was unable to answer,
that it might be the removal of the deposits.
" Oh ! no," said the General.
" Then it may be the specie circular?"
" Not at all !"
" What is it, then ?"
" I can tell you," said Jackson, rising in his bed, his
eyes kindling up — " I can tell you ; posterity will con-
demn me more because I was persuaded not to hang
John C. Calhoun as a traitor than for any other act in
my life."
This was in accord with an earlier answer made by
" Old Hickory," before he had so far succumbed to dis-
ease and prior to his union with the Presbyterian
Church. When his old friend and physician, Dr.
Edgar, then asked him, " What would you have done
with Calhoun and the other nullifiers, if they had kept
on?"
" Hung them, sir, as high as Haman !" was his
emphatic reply.
Daniel Webster's reply to Hayne was made the kev-
note of the resistance by the Administration to Jeffer-
son's assertion which was zealously adopted by Cal-
houn, " Where powers have been assumed which have
not been delegated, nullification is the rightful remedy."
President Jackson's famous and telling proclama
tion against this doctrine of nullification — the germ
of secession — was written by Edward Livingston, his
Secretary of State, and it has been said that it fol-
lowed, throughout, the doctrine maintained by Mr.
Webster in his reply to Hayne, in 1830. So remark-
able was this adoption of Mr. Webster's argument,
that popular opinion at that time regarded it as a
manifest, but of course a very excusable, plagiarism.
140 Per ley^s Reminiscences.
Mr. Webster, when the proclamation was issued, was
on his way to Washington, ignorant of what had oc-
curred. At an inn in New Jersey he met a traveler
just from Washington. Neither of them was known
to the other. Mr. Webster inquired the news. " Sir,"
said the gentleman, " the President has issued a proc-
lamation against the nullifiers, taken entirely from Mr.
Webster's reply to Hayne." In the course of the
ensuing session, and not long after Mr. Webster
reached the capital it became necessary for the Admin-
istration to act. Mr. Webster was in the opposition,
and, excepting in regard to the integrity of the Union
and the just power of the Government, there was a
wide gulf between the Administration and him. He
was absent from his seat for several days when the
Force bill was about to be introduced as an Adminis-
tration measure. A portion of General Jackson's
original supporters hung back from that issue. At
this juncture there was much inquiry among the
President's friends in the House as to where Mr.
Webster was. At length a member of General Jack-
son's Cabinet went to Mr. Webster's rooms, told him
the nature of the bill about to be introduced, and
asked him, as a public duty, to go into the Senate and
defend the bill and the President. It is well known to
the whole country that Mr. Webster did so ; and it is
known to me that General Jackson personally thanked
him for his powerful aid, that many of the President's
best friends afterward sought to make a union between
him and Mr. Webster, and that nothing continued to
separate them but an irreconcilable difference of opinion
about the questions relating to the currency.
While Mr. Calhoun was undoubtedly the leading
Democrat in the Senate, after his return to that body,
The Expunged Resolution.
141
Mr. Benton was the recognized leader of President Jack-
son's adherents in that body. His fierce opposition
to " Biddle and the Bank," with his prediction that the
time wonld come when there would be no paper money,
but when every laboring man
would have a knit silk purse,
through the meshes of which
the gold coin within could be
seen, obtained for him the so-
briquet of " Old Bullion." His
greatest triumph was the pas-
sage of a resolution by the
Senate "expunging" from its
journal a resolution censuring
General Jackson for the re-
moval of the deposits from the
Bank of the United States.
This expunging resolution
was kept before the Senate for
nearly three years, and was
then passed by only five ma-
j ority . The closing debate was
able and exhaustive, Henry
Clay, John J. Crittenden,
Thomas Ewing, William C.
Rives, William Hendricks,
John M. Niles, Richard H.
Bayard, and others participa-
ting, while Daniel Webster
read a pro test signed by himself
and his sturdy colleague, John Davis. The Democrats
had provided a bountiful supply of refreshments in the
room of the Committee on Finance, and several Sena-
tors showed by their actions that they were not mem-
EXPUNGED RESOLUTION.
142 Perley^s Reminiscences.
bers of the then newly organized Congressional Tern-
perance Society, before which Mr. Webster had
delivered a brief address. After the final vote — twenty-
four yeas and nineteen nays — had been taken, Mr.
Benton moved that the Secretary carry into effect the
order of the Senate. Then the Secretary, Mr. Asbury
Dickens, opening the manuscript journal of 1834,
drew broad black lines around'the obnoxious resolution
and wrote across its face : " Expunged by order of the
Senate, this i6th day of January, in the year of our
Lord 1837."
No sooner had he concluded than hisses were heard,
and Mr. King, of Alabama, who occupied the chair,
ordered the galleries to be cleared, while Mr. Benton, in
a towering rage, denounced the offenders and demanded
their arrest. " Here is one," said he, "just above me,
that may easily be identified — the bank ruffian." Mr.
King revoked his order to clear the galleries, but
directed the arrest of the person pointed out by Mr.
Benton, who was soon brought before the bar of the
Senate. It was Mr. Lloyd, a practicing lawyer at
Cleveland, Ohio, who was not permitted to say a word
in his own defense, but was soon discharged, after
which the Senate adjourned.
THOMAS HART BENTON was born near Hillsborough, North Carolina, March i4th, 1782; was
United States Senator from Missouri, 1821-1851; a Representative in Congress from Missouri, 1853-
1855; was defeated as a candidate for re-election to Congress in 1854, an<l as candidate for Governor
of Missouri in 1856, and died at Washington City, April loth, 1858.
CHAPTER X.
PROMINENT MEN OF JACKSON'S TIME.
HARRY OF THE WEST — TILT BETWEEN CLAY AND BENTON — REBUKE OP
A REVOLUTIONARY HERO — APT ORATORICAL ILLUSTRATION — DANIEL
WEBSTER'S WIT — AN EXCITED VISITOR — THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT-
ATIVES— GENERAL HOUSTON REPRIMANDED— ELI MOORE, OF NEW
YORK— CHURCHILL C. CAMBRELING — CROCKETT, OF TENNESSEE— EM-
BRYO PRESIDENTS— OTHER DISTINGUISHED REPRESENTATIVES — A
JACKSON DEMOCRAT.
HENRY CLAY, after Ms return to the Senate,
was the recognized leader of the Whig Sena-
tors, for he would recognize no leader. His
oratory was persuasive and spirit-stirring. The fire of
his bright eyes and the sunny smile which lighted up
his countenance added to the attractions of his un-
equaled voice, which was equally distinct and clear,
whether at its highest key or lowest whisper — rich,
musical, captivating. His action was the spontaneous
offspring of the passing thought. He gesticulated all
over. The nodding of his head, hung on a long neck,
his arms, hands, fingers, feet, and even his spectacles,
his snuff-box, and his pocket-handkerchief, aided him in
debate. He stepped forward and backward, and from
the right to the left, with effect. Every thought spoke ;
the whole body had its story to tell, and added to the
attractions of his able arguments. But he was not a
good listener, and he would often sit, while other Sena-
tors were speaking, eating sticks of striped peppermint
143
144
Perley^s Reminiscences.
candy, and occasionally taking a pinch of snuff from a
silver box that he carried, or from one that graced the
table of the Senate.
Occasionally, Mr. Clay was very imperious and dis-
played bad temper in debate. Once he endeavored to
browbeat Colonel Benton, bringing up " Old Bullion's"
personal rencontre with General Jackson, and charging
the former with having said that, should the latter be
elected President, Congress must guard itself with
pistols and dirks. This
Colonel Benton pro-
nounced " an atrocious
calumny." " What,"
retorted Mr. Clay, "can
you look me in the face,
sir, and say that you
never used that lan-
guage?" "I look," said
Colonel Benton, " and
repeat that it is an
atrocious calumny, and
I will pin it to him who
repeats it here." Mr.
Clay's face flushed with
rage as he replied: " Then I declare before the Senate
that you said to me the very words !" " False ! false !
false!" shouted Colonel Benton, and the Senators inter-
fered, Mr. Tazewell, who was in the chair, calling the
belligerents to order. After some discussion of the
questions of order, Colonel Benton said : " I apologize
to the Senate for the manner in which I have spoken
— but not to the Senator from Kentucky." Mr. Clay
promptly added : " To the Senate I also offer an
apology — to the Senator from Missouri, none !" Half
BROWN'S BUST OF CLAY.
Mr. Clay in Debate. 145
an hour afterward they shook hands, as lawyers often
do who have just before abused each other in court.
On another occasion, General Smith, of Baltimore, a
Revolutionary hero upward of eighty years of age, who
had been a member of Congress almost forty years,
was one day the object of Henry Clay's wrath. The
old General, who had fought gallantly in the Revolu-
tionary struggle and taken up arms again in the War
of 1812, was offensively bullied by Mr. Clay, who said:
" The honorable gentleman was in favor of manufac-
tures, in 1822, but he has turned — I need not use the
word — he has abandoned manufactures. Thus
" ' Old politicians chew on wisdom past
And totter on, in blunders, to the last.' "
The old General sprang to his feet. " The last
allusion," said he, " is unworthy of a gentleman.
Totter, sir, I totter ! Though some twenty years
older than the gentleman, I can yet stand firm, and am
yet able to correct his errors. I could take a view of
the gentleman's course, which would show how consist-
ent he has been." Mr. Clay exclaimed, angrily : " Take
it, sir, take it— I dare you !" Cries of " Order." " No,
sir," said Mr. Smith, " I will not take it. I will not
so far disregard what is due to the dignity of the Sen-
ate."
While Mr. Clay was generally imperious in debate,
and not overcautious in his choice of phrases and
epithets, he was fond of a joke, and often indulged, in
an undertone, in humorous comments on the remarks
by other Senators. Sometimes he would be very
happy in his illustrations, and make the most of some
passing incident. One afternoon, when he was reply-
ing to a somewhat heated opponent, a sudden squall
10
146 Perley*s Reminiscences.
came up and rattled the window curtains so as to pro-
duce a considerable noise. The orator stopped short in
the midst of his remarks and inquired aloud, what was
the matter ; and then, as if divining the cause of the
disturbance, he said : " Storms seem to be coming in
upon us from all sides." The observation, though
trivial as related, was highly amusing under the cir-
cumstances which gave rise to it and from the manner
in which it was uttered.
When Henry Clay returned to the Senate, Daniel
Webster yielded to him the leadership of the Whigs in
that body, but in no way sacrificed his own indepen-
dence. " The Great Expounder of the Constitution,"
as he was called, was then in the prime of life, and had
not began those indulgences which afterward exercised
such injurious effects upon him. He would also occa-
sionally indulge in a grim witticism. On one occasion,
when a Senator who was jeering another for some
pedantry said, " The honorable gentleman may pro-
ceed to quote from Crabbe's Synonyms, from Walker
and Webster " — " Not from Walker and Webster,"
exclaimed the Senator from Massachusetts, "for the
authorities may disagree !" At another time, when he
was speaking on the New York Fire bill, the Senate
clock suddenly began to strike, and after it had struck
continuously for about fourteen or fifteen times, Mr.
Webster stopped, and said to the presiding officer,
" The clock is out of order, sir — I have the floor."
The occupant of the chair looked rebukingly at the
refractory time-piece, but, in defiance of the officers and
rules of the House, it struck about forty before the
Sergeant-at-Arms could stop it, Mr. Webster standing
silent, while every one else was laughing.
On another occasion, while Mr. Webster was address-
HENRY CLAY
ADDRESSING THE SENATE.
148 Parley's Reminiscences.
ing the Senate in presenting a memorial, a clerical-
looking person in one of the galleries arose and
shouted: " My friends, the country is on the brink of
destruction ! Be sure that you act on correct princi-
ples. I warn you to act as your consciences may
approve. God is looking down upon you, and if you
act on correct principles you will get safely through."
He then deliberately stepped back, and retired from
the gallery before the officers of the Senate could reach
him. Mr. Webster was, of course, surprised at this
extraordinary interruption^; but when the shrill voice
of the enthusiast had ceased, he coolly resumed his
remarks, saying, "As the gentleman in the gallery has
concluded, I will proceed."
Mr. Cuthbert, of Georgia, was much provoked, one
day, by a scathing denunciation of his State by Mr.
Clay for the manner in which she had treated the
Cherokee Indians. As the eloquent Kentuckian dwelt
more in sorrow than in anger upon the wrongs and
outrages perpetrated in Georgia upon the unoffending
aborigines within her borders, many of his hearers
were affected to tears, and he himself was obviously
deeply moved. No sooner did Mr. Clay resume his
seat than Mr. Cuthbert sprang to his feet, and in an
insolent tone alluded to what he called the theatrical
manner of the speaker. " What new part will Roscius
next enact?" said the Senator from Georgia, coming
forward from his desk and standing in the area of the
hall. He was a man of about the ordinary height,
with a round face pitted with the smallpox, small, dark
eyes, and a full forehead. As he spoke he twirled his
watch-key incessantly with his right hand, while his
left was flung about in the most unmeaning and awk-
ward gestures. He twisted his body right and left, for-
Brilliant Debaters. 149
ward and backward, as if he were a Chinese mandarin
going through a stated number of evolutions before his
emperor; in fact, he had "all the contortions of the
sybil, without her inspiration." To this display Mr.
Clay seemed entirely oblivious, but after Judge White,
of Tennessee, had discussed the pending question, Mr.
Clay rose, saying, that he would reply to this gentle-
man's remarks as. "they alone were worthy of notice."
In the House of Representatives, during the Jack-
son Administration, sectional topics were rife, sectional
jealousies were high, and partisan warfare was unre-
lenting. Andrew Stevenson" of Virginia, who was tri-
umphantly re-elected as Speaker for four successive
terms, understood well how to keep down the boil-
ing caldron, and to exercise stern authority, tem-
pered with dignity and courtesy, over heated passions
of the fiercest conflicting character. When he was
transferred from the Speaker's chair to the Court of St.
James, John Bell, of Tennessee, an old supporter of
General Jackson, became his successor for the remain-
der of that session, but at the commencement of the
next Congress Mr. Van Buren secured the election of
James K. Polk. Mr. Bell, on his next visit to Nash-
ville, threw down the gauntlet, in an able speech, and
nominated Judge White. This was the foundation of
the White party, which had, as its editorial henchman,
the Rev. Mr. Brownlow, known as " the fighting
Parson," who soon acquired a national reputation by
his defiant personalities in debate and by his trenchant
editorial articles in the "newspapers of Bast Tennessee.
Mr. Brownlow was at that time a tall, spare man, with
long, black hair, black eyes, and a sallow complexion.
He was devoted to the Methodist Church and to the
White — afterward the Whig — party, and the denomi-
150 Per ley's Reminiscences.
national doctrine of immersion and the political dogma
of emancipation from slavery were objects of his
intense hatred.
While Mr. Stevenson was Speaker, General Samuel
Houston, who had been residing among the Indians
on the Southwestern frontier for several years, came to
Washington. Taking offense at some remarks made
in debate by Mr. Vance, a representative from Ohio,
Houston assaulted and severely pounded him. The
House voted that Houston should be brought before its
bar and reprimanded by the Speaker, which was done,
although Mr. Stevenson's reprimand was really com-
plimentary. That night a friend of General Houston,
with a bludgeon and a pistol, attacked Mr. Arnold,
of Tennessee, who had been active in securing the
reprimand, but the latter soon got the best of the
encounter.
The first man elected to Congress as a representative
of the rights of the laboring classes was Eli Moore, a
New York journeyman printer, who had organized
trades unions and successfully engineered several
strikes by mechanics against their employers. He
was a thin, nervous man, with keen, dark hazel eyes,
long black hair brushed back behind his ears, and a
strong, clear voice which rang through the hall like
the sound of a trumpet. He especially distinguished
himself in a reply to General Waddy Thompson, of
South Carolina, who had denounced the mechanics
of the North as willing tools of the Abolitionists.
With impetuous force and in ' tones tremulous with
emotion, he denounced aristocracy and advocated the
equality of all men. The House listened with attention,
and a Southern politician exclaimed to one of his col-
leagues, " Why, this is the high-priest of revolution
A Thorough Worker. 151
singing his war song." What added to the effect of this
remarkable speech was its dramatic termination. Just
as he had entered upon his peroration he grew deathly
pale, his eyes closed, his outstretched hands clutched at
vacancy, he reeled forward, and fell insensible. His
friends rushed to his support, and his wife, who was in
the gallery, screamed with terror. His physician posi-
tively prohibited his speaking again, and in subsequent
years, when the Democratic party was in power, he
enjoyed the positions of Indian Agent under Polk, and
of Land Agent under Pierce.
Ransom H. Gillet, of the Ogdensburgh district, was
one of the old " Jackson Democratic War-Horses."
He was a man of commanding presence, a ready
speaker, and a famous manipulator of opinion at Con-
ventions.
By birth a North Carolinian, Churchill C. Cambre-
ling was by adoption a New Yorker, and by strict at-
tention to business he had become one of the merchant
princes of the commercial metropolis. Thirty years of
age, with a commanding presence, a good voice, a ready
command of language, and a practical knowledge of
financial matters, he made an excellent Chairman of
the Committee on Ways and Means and leader of the
Jackson men in the House.
He carried business habits into Congress, and passed
much of his time at his desk, laboriously answering
every letter addressed to him by his constituents or
others, or carefully examining papers referred to his
Committee. But he was always on the alert, and if in
debate any political opponent let slip a word derogatory
to the Administration, Mr. Cambreling was at once on
his feet with a pertinent retort or a skillful explanation.
He was noted for his liberality, and neither the district
152
Perley*s Reminiscences.
charities or his needy constituents ever appealed to him
in vain.
The Whigs, during the Jackson Administration,
made much of David Crockett, of Tennessee, who was
a thorn in the sides of the Democrats, and they suc-
ceeded in having him defeated for one Congress, but he
was successful at the next election. He was a true
frontiersman, with
a small dash of
civilization and a
great deal of
shrewdness trans-
plated in political
life. He was
neither grammati-
cal nor graceful,
but no rudeness
of language can
disguise strong
sense and shrewd-
ness, and a " dem-
onstration," a s
Bulwer says, "will
force its way
through all per-
versions of gram-
mar." Some one undertook to publish his life, but he
promptly denied the authenticity of the work, and had a
true memoir of himself written and published. This
was a successful literary venture, and he next published
a burlesque life of Van Buren, "heir apparent to the Gov-
ernment, and appointed successor of Andrew Jackson,"
which, in the mixture of truth, error, wit, sense, and
nonsense in about equal parts, has certainly the merit
DAVID CROCKETT.
Embryo Presidents. 153
even at this day of being entertaining. Crockett's
favorite expression was, " Be snre you're right, then go
ahead." When Texas commenced its struggle for inde-
pendence he went there, and was killed while gallantly
fighting at San Antonio. His son, John W. Crockett,
served two terms in Congress, was Attorney-General of
Tennessee, edited a paper at New Orleans, and died at
Memphis in 1852.
Among the other members of the House of Repre-
sentatives in Jackson's time were several who afterward
occupied high positions in the Federal Government.
Franklin Pierce, a courteous gentleman, the son of a
brave Revolutionary soldier, had been sent from New
Hampshire by a large majority, and laid the founda-
tion of personal friendships upon which he afterward
entered the White House as President. Millard Fill-
more, hale and hearty in personal appearance, repre-
sented his home at Buffalo. He soon acquired a repu-
tation for performing his committee work with scrupu-
lous fidelity, and winning the confidence of his col-
leagues, while advancing on all proper occasions the
interests of his constituents, who rejoiced when he be-
came President, after the death of Taylor. James
Knox Polk, of Tennessee, a rigid Presbyterian, an
uncompromising Democrat, and a zealous Freemason,
was another Representative who subsequently became
President.
There were several other prominent men in the
House: Richard Mentor Johnson, a burly and slightly
educated Kentucky Indian-fighter, who enjoyed the
reputation of having killed Tecumseh at the battle of
the Thames, was elected a few years later on the Van
Buren ticket Vice-President of the United States, but
was defeated in the Harrison campaign four years
154
Parley's Reminiscences.
later ; and John Bell, a Whig of commanding presence
and great practical sagacity, who was afterward Senator
and Secretary of War, and who was defeated when he
ran on the Presidential ticket of the Constitutional
Union party, in 1860. Elisha Whittlesey, of Ohio, who
after sixteen years of Congressional service became an
auditor, and was known as " the Watch Dog of the
Treasury." Tom Corwin, of the same State, with a
portly figure, swarthy
complexion, and won-
derful facial expres-
sion, and an inex-
haustible flow of wit,
who was not a buffoon,
but a gentleman whose
humor was natural,
racy, and chaste. Gu-
lian C. Verplanck and
Thomas J. Oakley,
two members of the
New York bar, who
represented that city,
were statesmen rather
than politicians. John
Chambers, of Ken-
tucky, a gigantic economist, was ever ready to reform
small expenditures and willing to overlook large ones.
And then- there was the ponderous Dixon H. Lewis,
of Alabama, the largest man who ever occupied a seat
in Congress — so large that chairs had to be made ex-
pressly for his use.
General James Findlay, who had served creditably in
the War of 1812, was a Jackson Democratic Representa-
tive in the days of the contest between " Old Hickory"
GEN. FINDLAY S LAND SALE.
A Model Land Agent. 155
and " Biddle's Bank." He was a type of a gentleman
of the old school, and he recalled Washington Irving's
picture of the master of Bracebridge Hall. The bluff
and hearty manner, the corpulent person, and the open
countenance of the General, his dress of the aristo-
cratic blue and buff, and his gold-headed cane, all
tallied with the descriptions of the English country
gentleman of the olden time. He was greatly beloved
in Ohio, and several anecdotes are told of his kindness
in enforcing the claims of the United States, when he
was Receiver of the District Land Office, for lands sold
on credit, as was the custom in those days. Upon one
occasion there had been a time of general tightness in
money matters, and many farms in the region north-
east of Cincinnati but partly paid for were forfeited to
the Government. In the discharge of his official duty
General Findlay attended at the place of sale. He
learned, soon after his arrival there, that many specu-
lators were present prepared to purchase these lands.
Mounting a stump, he opened the sale. He designated
the lands forfeited, and said that he was there to offer
them to the highest bidder. He said that the original
purchasers were honest men, but that in consequence
of the hard times they had failed to meet their engage-
ments. It was hard, thus to be forced from their
homes already partly paid for. But the law was im-
perative, and the lands must be offered. "And now,"
continued he, " I trust that there is no gentleman — no,
I will not say that, I hope there is no rascal — here so
mean as to buy his neighbor's home over his head.
Gentlemen, I offer this lot for sale. Who bids ?"
There was no forfeited land sold that day.
A spirited bronze statue of Jefferson, by his admirer,
the French sculptor, David d' Angers, was presented to
156 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Congress by Lieutenant Uriah P. Levy, but Congress
declined to accept it, and denied it a position in the
Capitol. It was then reverentially taken in charge by
two naturalized Irish citizens, stanch Democrats, and
placed on a small pedestal in front of the White House.
One of these worshipers of Jefferson was the public
gardener, Jemmy Maher, the other was John Foy,
keeper of the restaurant in the basement of the Capi-
tol, and famous for his witty sayings. Prominent
among his bon mots was an encomium on Represent-
ative Dawson, of Louisiana, who was noted for his
intemperate habits, the elaborate ruffles of his shirts,
and his pompous strut. " He came into me place,"
said Foy, " and after ateing a few oysters he flung down
a Spanish dollar, saying, ' Niver mind the change, Mr.
Foy ; kape it for yourself.' Ah ! there's a pay cock of
a gintleman for you."
RICHARD MENTOR JOHNSON was born at Bryant's Station, Kentucky, October i/th, 1781 ; distin-
guished himself in the second war with Great Britain, and in the Indian wars ; was a Representative
in Congress from Kentucky, 1807-1813 ; was a United States Senator, 1820-1829 ; was again a Rep-
resentative, 1829-1837; was Vice-President, 1837-1841; died at Frankfort, November igth, 1850.
CHAPTER XI.
SOCIETY IN JACKSON'S TIME.
THE VAN NESS MANSION — A BENEFACTRESS — A POPULAR CITIZEN — A
MUCH-TALKED-OF LAWSUIT — A RUNAWAY NUN — GENERAL JACKSON'S
DIPLOMACY — WASHINGTON SOCIETY — ANECDOTES TOLD BY MR. CLAY
— MAELZEL'S AUTOMATA — CONDEMNED LITERATURE.
THE most elegant estate in Washington in Jack-
son's time was the Van Ness mansion, built on
the bank of the Potomac, at the foot of Seven-
teenth Street. Mr. John Van Ness, when a member of
the House from the State of New York, had married
Marcia, the only child of David Burns, one of the orig-
inal proprietors of the land on which the Federal City
was located. At that time every able-bodied man
between eighteen and forty-five (with a few exceptions)
had to perform militia duty, and the District Volunteers,
organizing themselves in a battalion, complimented Mr.
Van Ness by electing him Major. The President com-
missioned him, but so strict were the Congressmen of
those days that the House investigated his case, and
declared that he had forfeited his seat as a Representa-
tive by accepting a commission from the General Gov-
ernment. For the empty honor of wearing a militia
uniform three or four times a year, and paying a large
share of the music assessments, Major Van Ness lost
his seat in Congress.
157
158 Perley's Reminiscences.
Marcia Burns was a lively, beautiful girl, with an
engaging frankness in her manner. She was well
educated, and while her father was commonly known
as " Crusty Davie"," she possessed over him an influence
that could sway him almost invariably. As the sole
inheritor of the Burns estate she was looked upon as
a most desirable matrimonial prize, and she was dili-
gently sought after by multitudes of suitors, but the
choice of her heart was the brilliant young Congress-
man with whom she linked her fate, and who was in all
respects worthy of so noble a companion.
David Burns died soon after his daughter's marriage,
and she dutifully conveyed to her husband, through
the intervention of a trustee, her paternal inheritance.
With a portion of the fortune thus acquired, Major
Van Ness built near the old Burns cottage a villa which
cost thirty thousand dollars, and was a palace fit for a
king. Entertainments the most costly were inaugu-
rated and maintained in it ; wit and song were heard
within it, and elegance and distinction assembled under
its hospitable shelter. From its door-step one could see
ships from Europe moored to the docks of Alexandria,
while gliding by were merchantmen from the West
Indies, laden for the port of Georgetown.
Major Van Ness and Marcia Burns lived very hap-
pily together and had one child, a daughter, who grew
into womanhood, married, and died a year after her
marriage, ere the flowers in her bridal wreath had faded.
Mrs. Van Ness loved her daughter with a love that was
idolatry, and with her death she received a blow from
which she never recovered. She abandoned all the
gayeties of the world, and laid aside her sceptre and
crown as queen of society. In the charity school and
orphan-asylum, by the bedside of the sick and dying,
An Elegant Mausoleum.
and in the homes of poverty, relieving its wants, she
was found to the day of her death. Her last words to
her grief-stricken husband and friends assembled about
her bedside were: "Heaven bless and protect you;
never mind me." The Mayor and City Government
passed appropriate resolutions, and attended her funeral
Major Van Ness erected a mausoleum after the pat-
THE VAN NESS MAUSOLEUM.
tern of the Temple of Vesta, at a cost of thirty-four thou-
sand dollars, and placed within it his wife's remains
and those of her father and mother. The stately pile
stood in a large inclosure for years on H Street, beside
the orphan asylum which Mrs. Van Ness richly endowed.
Finally the march of improvement, needing all the
space available within the city limits, necessitated the
removal of the mausoleum to Oak Hill Cemetery, in
160 Per iey 's Reminiscences.
Georgetown, where the remains of John Howard Payne
were subsequently re-interred.
Major Van Ness himself enjoyed everything that
worldly preferment could bestow. By turns he was
president of a bank and Mayor of Washington, yet
with his ample fortune he was always short of ready
money. He was never pressed by suit, however, for
his good nature was as irresistible as the man was fas-
cinating ; the dun who came with a bill and a frown
went away with a smile and — his bill. He lived to be
seventy-six years of age, when — like the patriarchs of
old — he died, full of honor and greatness, and, leaving
no direct issue, his property passed into the hands of
collateral heirs. They were sensible heirs, who did
not seek the intervention of courts and lawyers for a
distribution of their interests, but wisely and amicably
distributed them themselves. The law, however, was
determined not to be entirely shunned. If the heirs
would not go to law, the law was accommodating — it
would come to them, and it came with a romance.
One day, soon after the death of Major Van Ness, a
buxom, matronly looking dame, in heavy mourning and
with tear-dimmed eyes, came upon the scene and claimed
a share of the estate. They naturally inquired her name
and address, and she modestly, but firmly, told them she
was the widow of the deceased by virtue of a clandestine
marriage which had occurred in Philadelphia. The
heirs mistook her modesty for an attempt at blackmail,
and acted as defendants in the suit which she instituted.
The trial is one of the celebrated cases of the District
» of Columbia. It lasted upward of a month. Eminent
counsel were in it, and many witnesses came to prove
the truth of opposite facts. There was no doubt that
Van Ness had known the widow and had visited her,
A Runaway Nun. 161
for love letters were read in court from him to her;
there was no doubt that some ceremony, sanctioned by
a minister's presence, had been performed and assisted
at by both together, but the requisite formalities to
constitute a valid marriage were not fully proven, and
the jury disagreed. The matronly dame in heavy
mourning did not murmur : luck was against her, and
she accepted her luck. She left Washington and never
pressed her suit to a second trial, nor further harassed
the heirs.
Miss Ann G. Wright, a cousin of Mrs. Van Ness,
created a great sensation in Washington by coming to
her house for a home. She was a runaway nun from
the Convent of the Visitation in Georgetown, and had
been known in the community as Sister Gertrude.
No one ever knew rightly the cause of her sudden
departure from the convent. Some said it was dis-
appointed ambition in not being appointed superioress;
others, that it was a case of love ; but she never told,
and the ladies of the convent were just as reticent.
She becp.me an inmate of the elegant Van Ness man-
sion and was a noted and brilliant woman in society.
It was said that she had written a book, exposing the
inner life of the convent, to be published after her
death, but I have never heard of its appearance. A
few years after she left the convent she accompanied
the family of the American Minister to Spain, and
resided for some time at Madrid, where she was a great
favorite in Court circles.
General Jackson was not cultured or accomplished,
but he had a strong, well-balanced mind, and he would
go through forests of sophistry and masses of legal
opinions straight to the point. Governor Wise, who
admired him greatly, used to tell a story illustrative
ii
Perley^s Reminiscences.
of the rough bark of Old Hickory's character. During
the Administration of President Monroe, General Jack-
son, in command of some troops, invaded Florida and
captured Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two Englishmen,
-who, it was charged, incited the Indians to depreda-
tions. He at once ordered a court-martial and had them
hanged, with but little time to prepare for their future
place of abode. He was arraigned for the offense before
OLD STATE DEPARTMENT BUILDING.
Uie Cabinet of Mr. Monroe, and Mr. Adams, the Secre-
tary of State, defended him 011 the high ground of inter-
national law as expounded by Grotius, Vattel, and Puff-
endorf. Jackson, who had quarreled with Mr. Monroe,
was disposed to regard the matter as entirely personal.
" Confound Grotius ! confound Vattel ! confound Puff-
endorf!" said he; "this is a mere matter between Jim
Monroe and me."
Balls and Parties.
163
Having received a complimentary letter from Presi-
dent Bustamente, of Mexico, General Jackson sent it to
the Department of State with this indorsement : " Mr.
Van Bnren will reply to this letter of General Busta-
mente with the frankness of a soldier." When this
reached Mr. Van
Buren he laughed
heartily, as he was
neither a soldier
nor remarkable for
frankness, and the
clerks could not
keep a secret.
Although many
old citizens, whose
relatives and near
friends had been
turned out of their
pleasant offices by
the Jackson Ad-
ministration, kept
quite aloof from
the White House,
there was no lack
of social enjoy-
ments at Wash-
ington. Mr. For-
syth,the Secretary
of State, gave a series of balls, and there were large par-
ties at the residences of Mr. Dickerson, Secretary of the
Navy, Major-General Macomb, General Miller, and
other prominent men, each one in numbers and guests
almost a repetition of the other. Mr. Van Buren was
at all of them, shaking hands with everybody, glad to
GENERAL JAMES MILLER.
164 Per ley's Reminiscences.
see everybody, asking about everybody's friends, and
trusting that everybody was well. Colonel Richard M.
Johnson was also to be seen at all public gatherings,
looking, in his scarlet -waistcoat and ill-fitting coat, not
as the killer of Tecumseh, but as the veritable Tecum-
seh himself. Mr. Webster was seldom seen at public
parties, but Messrs. Clay and Calhoun were generally
present, with the foreign Ministers and their suites,
who were the only wearers of mustaches in . those
days. There were the magnates of the Senate and
the House, each one great in his own estimation, with
the chevaliers cCindustrie, who lived as by their wits,
upon long credits and new debts, and there were
strangers congregated from all sections of the country,
some having business before Congress, and others
having come to see how the country was governed.
Every one, on his arrival, would take a carriage and
leave cards for the heads of departments, foreign Min-
isters, leading army and navy officers, and prominent
members of Congress. This would bring in return
the cards of these magnates and invitations to their
next party.
Mr. Clay was a good raconteur, and always had a
story to illustrate his opinions advanced in conversa-
tion. One day, when he had been complimented on
his neat, precise handwriting, always free from blots,
interlineations, and erasures, he spoke about the im-
portance of writing legibly, and told an amusing story
about a Cincinnati grocery-man, who, finding the
market short of cranberries, and under the impression
that the fruit could be purchased cheaply at a little
town in Kentucky, wrote to a customer there acquaint-
ing him with the fact and requesting him to send " one
hundred bushels per Simmons " (the wagoner usually
Henry Clay*s Stories. 165
sent) . The correspondent, a plain, uneducated man, had
considerable difficulty in deciphering the fashionable
scrawl common with merchants' clerks of late years,
and the most important word, " cranberries," he failed
to make out, but he did plainly and clearly read — one
hundred bushels persimmons. As the article was
growing all around him, all the boys in the neighbor-
hood were set to gathering it, and the wagoner made
his appearance in due time in Cincinnati with eighty
bushels, all that the wagon body would* hold, and a
line from the country merchant that the remainder
would follow the next trip. An explanation soon
ensued, but the customer insisted that the Cincinnati
house should have written by Simmons and not per
Simmons. Who paid the loss history doth not
record.
One more of Mr. Clay's stories which he used to tell
with dramatic effect : As he was coming here one
November the stage stopped for the passengers to get
supper at a little town on the mountain side, where
there had been a militia muster that afternoon. When
the stage was ready to start, the Colonel, in full regi-
mentals, but somewhat inebriated, insisted on riding
with the driver, thinking, doubtless, that the fresh air
would restore him. It was not long, though, before
he fell off in the mud. The coach stopped, of course,
for the Colonel to regain his seat. He sqon gathered
up, when the following colloquy ensued : " Well, driver
(hie), we've had quite a turn (hie) over, haint we?"
" No, we have not turned over at all." " I say (hie)
we have." " No, you are mistaken, you only fell off."
"I say we (hie) have; I'll leave it (hie) to the com-
(hie) pany. Haven't we (hie) had a turn (hie) over,
gentlemen?" Being assured they had not, "Well,
r66 Perley^s Reminiscences.
driver (hie)," said lie, "if I'd known that (hie) I
wouldn't a got out."
The automaton chess-player and other pieces of
mechanism exhibited by Monsieur Maelzel were very
popular at Washington. The chess-player was the
figure of a Turk of the natural size, sitting behind a
chest three feet and a-half in height, to which was
attached the wooden seat on which the figure sat. On
the top of the chest was an immovable chess-board,
upon which the eyes of the figure were fixed. Its
right hand and arm were extended on the chest, and
its left, somewhat raised, held a pipe. Several doors
in the chest and in the body of the figure having been
opened, and a candle held within the cavities thus dis-
played, the doors were closed, the exhibitor wound up
the works, placed a cushion under the arm of the
figure, and challenged any individual of the company
present to play.
In playing, the automaton always made choice of
the first move and the white pieces. It also played
with the left arm — the inventor, as it was said, not
having perceived the mistake till his work was too far
advanced to alter it. The hand and fingers opened on
touching the piece, which it grasped and conveyed to
the proper square. After a move made by its antago-
nist, the automaton paused for a few moments, as if
contemplating the game. On giving check to the king
it made a signal with its head. If a false move was
made by its antagonist it tapped on the chest impa-
tiently, replaced the piece, and claimed the move for
itself as an advantage. If the antagonist delayed any
considerable time the automaton tapped smartly on the
chest with the right hand. At the close of the game
the automaton moved the knight, with its proper
MaelzeVs Marvels. 167
motion, over each of the sixty-three squares of the
board in turn, without missing one, and without a
single return to the same square.
Although positive proof was wanting, it was gener-
ally believed that the movements of the figure were
directed by a slender person adroitly concealed behind
what was apparently a mass of machinery. This ma-
• chinery was always exhibited when in a fixed state,
but carefully excluded from view when in motion. It
was noticed by anxious observers that no variation ever
took place in the precise order in which the doors were
opened, thus giving. the concealed player an opportu-
nity to change his position. In what was apparently
the winding up of the machine the key always ap-
peared limited to a certain number of revolutions, how-
ever different the number of moves in the preceding
game might have been. On one occasion sixty-three
'moves were executed without winding up, and once it
was observed that it was wound up without the inter-
vention of a single move.
Monsieur Maelzel also exhibited an automaton tram-
peter, life size, attired in a full British uniform. It
was rolled out before the audience and performed sev-
eral marches and patriotic airs. A miniature rope-
dancer performed some curious feats, and small figures,
when their hands were shaken, ejaculated the words,
" Papa !" and " Mamma !" in a life-like manner. But
the crowning glory of Monsieur Maelzel's exhibition
was a panorama, scenic and mechanical, of the " Burn-
ing of Moscow." The view of the Russian capital,
with its domes and minarets, was a real work of art.
Then the great bell of the Kremlin began to toll, and
the flames could be seen making their way from build-
ing to building. A bridge in the foreground was cov-
i68
Ferity s Reminiscences.
ered with figures, representing the flying citizens
escaping with their household treasures. They were
followed by a regiment of French infantry, headed by
its band, and marching with the precision of veterans.
Meanwhile the flames had begun to ascend the spires
and domes, and the deep tolling of the bells was
echoed by the inspiring strains of martial music. At
last, as the last platoon of Frenchmen crossed the
bridge, the Kremlin
was blown up with a
loud explosion, and
the curtain fell.
Mrs. Alexander
Hamilton, the widow
of the founder of our
financial system, pass-
ed a good portion of
the latter part of her
life at Washington,
and finally died there.
She wTas the first to
introduce ice-cream at
the national metropo-
lis, and she used to
relate with rare hu-
mor the delight displaced by President Jackson when
he first tasted it. He liked it much, and swore,
" By the Eternal !" that he would have ices at the
White House. The guests at the next reception were
agreeably surprised with this delicacy, especially those
from the rural districts, who, after approaching it sus-
piciously, melting each spoonful with their breath
before consuming it, expressed their satisfaction by eat-
ing all that could be provided. Mrs. Hamilton was
ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
High-Priced Pamphlets.
169
very much troubled by the pamphlet which her hus-
band had published when Secretary of the Treasury,
in which he avowed an intrigue with the wife of one of
his clerks, to exculpate himself from a charge that he
had permitted this clerk to speculate on the action of
the Treasury Department. Mrs. Hamilton for some
years paid dealers in second-hand books five dollars a
copy for every copy of this pamphlet which they
brought her. One year the number presented was un-
usually large, and she accidentally ascertained that a
cunning dealer in old books in New York had had the
pamphlet reprinted, and was selling her copies at five
dollars each which had cost him but about ten cents
each. She possessed a good many souvenirs of her
illustrious husband, one of which, now in the writer's
possession, was the copper camp-kettle which General
Hamilton had while serving on the staff of the illus-
trious Washington.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS was born in Wilkes County, Georgia, February nth, 1812 ;
was a member of the House of Representatives, December 4th, 1843, to March 3d, 1859 ; was Vice-
President of the Southern Confederacy; was again a member of thft United States Congress,
October isth, 1877,10 January 151,1882; was Governor of Georgia* and died at Crawfordville, Georgia,
March 4th, 1883. »
CHAPTER XII.
JACKSON AND HIS ASSOCIATES.
DEMOCRATIC REJOICING— ATTEMPT AT ASSASSINATION — THE POLITICAL
GUILLOTINE — THE VICAR OP BRAY — DANIEL WEBSTER'S MEMORY —
BAYARD, OF DELAWARE — THE CLAYTONS — PEARCE, OF MARYLAND —
THE CLASSICAL AND THE VERNACULAR — BOULANGER'S — LOCATION OF
THE NEW TREASURY DEPARTMENT — HACKETT, THE COMEDIAN — A
JEALOUS ARTIST — SUMNER'S FIRST VISIT TO WASHINGTON — THE SU-
PREME COURT AND ITS JUSTICES.
PRESIDENT JACKSON'S friends celebrated the
8th of January, 1835, by giving a grand ban-
quet. It was not only the anniversary of the
battle of New Orleans, but on that day the last install-
ment of the national debt had been paid. Colonel
Benton presided, and when the cloth was removed he
delivered an exulting speech. " The national debt,"
he exclaimed, "is paid! This month of January, 1835,
in the fifty-eighth year of the Republic, Andrew Jack-
son being President, the national debt is paid ! and the
apparition, so long unseen on earth — a great nation
without a national debt ! — stands revealed to the aston-
ished vision of a wondering world ! Gentlemen," he
concluded, " my heart is in this double celebration,
and I offer you a sentiment which, coming direct from
my own bosom, will find its response in yours : ' PRESI-
DENT JACKSON : May the evening of his days be as
tranquil and as happy for himself as their meridian
170
Shooting at Jackson.
171
has been resplendent, glorious, and beneficent for his
country.' '
A few weeks later, as President Jackson was leaving
the Capitol, where he had been to attend the funeral
of Representative Davis; of South Carolina, a man
advanced toward him from the crowd, leveled a pistol,
ATTEMPTED SHOOTING OF GENERAL JACKSON.
and fired it. The percussion-cap exploded without dis-
charging the pistol, and the man, dropping it, raised a
second one, which also missed fire. General Jackson's
rage was roused by the explosion of the cap, and, lift-
ing his cane, he rushed toward his assailant, who was
knocked down by Lieutenant Gedney , of the Navy, before
172 Perlefs Reminiscences.
Jackson could reach him. The man was an English
house-painter named Lawrence, who had been for some
months out of work, and who, having heard that the
opposition of General Jackson to the United States
Bank had paralyzed the industries of the country, had
conceived the project of assassinating him. The Presi-
dent himself was not disposed to believe that the plot
originated in the crazy brain of Lawrence, whom he
regarded as the tool of political opponents. A pro-
tracted examination, however, failed to afford the slight-
est proof of this theory, although General Jackson never
doubted it for a moment. He was fortified in this opin-
ion by the receipt of anonymous letters, threatening
assassination, all of which he briefly indorsed and sent
to Mr. Blair for publication in the Globe.
The heads of the executive departments, believing
that " to the victors belong the spoils," did not leave an
acknowledged anti-Jackson Democrat in office, either in
Washington City or elsewhere, with a very few excep-
tions. One of these was General Miller, Collector of
the Port of Salem, Massachusetts. The leading Jack-
son Democrats in Massachusetts petitioned the Presi-
dent for his removal as incompetent and a political oppo-
nent, and they presented the name of a stanch Jackson
Democrat for the position. The appointment was
made, and the name of the new Collector was sent to
the Senate for confirmation. Colonel Benton, who had
been made acquainted with the facts, requested that no
action be taken until he could converse with the Presi-
dent. Going to the White House the next morning,
he said to General Jackson, " Do you know who is
the Collector of Customs at Salem, Mr. President,
whom you are about to remove?" "No, sir," replied
General Jackson ; " I can't think of his name, but Nat.
True to a Brave Soldier.
Green and Ben. Hallett have told me that he is an in-
competent old New England Hartford Convention
Federalist." " Mr. President," said Colonel Benton,
" the man you propose to turn out is General Miller,
who fought so bravely at the battle of Bridgewater."
" What!" exclaimed General Jackson, "not the brave
Miller who, when asked if he could take the British
battery, exclaimed, 'I'll try.'' "It is the same man,
Mr. President,4" responded Benton. General Jackson
rang his bell, and when a servant appeared, said, "Tell
Colonel Donelson I want him, quick !" When the
private secretary entered, the President said, " Donelson,
I want the name of the fellow I nominated for Collector
of Salem withdrawn instantly. Then write a letter to
General Miller and tell him that he shall be Collector
of Salem so long as Andrew Jackson is President."
Learning that some of the Pension Agents had been
witholding portions of the pensions due to Revolu-
tionary veterans, General Jackson had the charges
thoroughly investigated, and a list of the pensioners
printed, showing what each one was entitled to receive.
This disclosed the fact that some of the Pension Agents
had been continuing to draw the pensions of deceased
soldiers for years after their death, besides retaining
portions of the pensions of others. Robert Temple,
Pension Agent in Vermont, on hearing of the proposed
investigation, hastened to Washington, where he en-
deavored to bribe a clerk to falsify the list made out for
the printer. The clerk obtained from him a list of sixty
names of deceased soldiers whose pensions he had con-
tinued to draw, and gave it to the Secretary of War.
Temple, on learning this, committed suicide.
There were a few veteran office-holders at Washing-
ton, whose ancestors had been appointed under Fed-
174 Perley^s Reminiscences.
eral rule, but who had managed to veer around into
Jackson Democracy. Mr. Webster, in speaking one
day of a Philadelphia family which had thus kept in
place, said that they reminded him of Simeon Alleyn,
Vicar of Bray, in Old England, who steered his bark
safely through four conflicting successive reigns. A
bland gentleman, he was first a Papist, then a Protest-
ant, next a Papist, and lastly a Protestant again. " He
must have been at times," said Mr. Webstej-, " terribly
confused between gowns and robes, and," continued the
Senator, "I can fancy him listening at his window to
the ballad written on him, as trolled forth by some
graceless varlets :
" ' To teach my flock I never missed ;
Kings were by God appointed,
And they are damned who dare resist
Or touch the Lord's anointed ;
And this in law I will maintain
Until my dying day, sir,
That whosoever king shall reign,
I'll be the Vicar of Bray, sir.' "
Mr. Webster was not only fond of repeating quota-
tions from the old English poets, but also verses from
the old Sternhold and Hopkins hymn-book, which he
had studied in the Salisbury meeting-house when a boy,
and sometimes when alone he would sing, or rather
chant, them in his deep voice, without a particle of
melody. His favorite verses were the following trans-
lation of the xviiith Psalm :
" The Lord descended from above,
And bow'd the heavens high ;
And underneath His feet He cast
The darkness of the sky.
" On cherubs and on cherubims
Full royally He rode,
And on the wings of all the winds
Came flying all abroad."
Delaware Senators. 175
Late in the Jackson Administration, Richard H.
Bayard came to Washington as a Senator from Dela-
ware, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Ar-
nold Naudain. He was the son of James Asheton
Bayard, originally a stanch Federalist, who had fol-
lowed his father-in-law, Richard Bassett, as a Senator
from Delaware, and whose vote had made Thomas Jef-
ferson President of the United States instead of Aaron
Burr. He had afterward been one of the Commission
which negotiated the treaty of Ghent, and he educated
his sons to succeed him in the Senate, and in turn to
qualify a grandson to represent his State in the upper
branch of the National Council. No one family has
furnished so many United States Senators, and they
have all been inspired by the knightly courtesy of the
Bayard of the olden time, who was " without fear and
without reproach."
The Democratic Bayards were antagonized in Jack-
son's time by the Whig Claytons, the other Delaware
chair in the United States Senate having been occupied
since 1829 by John Middleton Clayton. He was an
accomplished lawyer, and one of the leaders of the
Whig party. Under his direction Delaware was a
Whig State, and had it been a larger one, Mr. Clayton
would doubtless have been nominated to the Vice-
Presidency, if not to the Presidency. He was zealously
devoted to his party, and when, later in life, a delega-
tion waited on him to question some of his acts as not
in accordance with Whig principles, he rose, and draw-
ing himself up to his full height, exclaimed : " What !
unwhig me? Me, who was a Whig when you gentlemen
were riding cornstalk horses in your fathers' barn-
yards ?" The delegation asked his pardon for having
doubted his party loyalty, and at once withdrew.
176 Perley*s Reminiscences.
James Alfred Pearce, of Maryland, entered the
House of Representatives during the Jackson Admin-'
istration, and was successively re-elected (with the
exception of a single term) until he was transferred to
the Senate in 1843, and served in that body until his
death in 1862. He was another "wheel horse" of the
Whig party, although he shrank from political contro-
versy. His home friends, who were very proud of his
reputation, brought him forward at one time as a can-
didate for the Presidency. But he refused to permit
his name to be used, on the ground that the burdens
of the White House were too costly a price to pay for
its honors.
Mr. Pearce was a devoted friend of the Congressional
Library, and during his long service on the Committee
having it in charge he selected the books purchased.
In doing this he excluded all works calculated in his
opinion to engender sectional differences, and when
the Atlantic Monthly was established he refused to
order it for the Library. He was the founder of the
Botanic Garden, and the Coast Survey was another
object of his especial attention and favor.
Mr. Pearce's care in the choice of books was by no
means a notion of his own. From the founding of the
Library it was the policy of many of its warmest friends
to exclude every publication which would engender and
foster sectional differences. They went on the prin-
ciple of concealing difficulties, rather than of facing
them squarely. Very different is the broader policy
now maintained in this great library, on whose shelves
every copyrighted book of the United States now finds
a place.
Mr. Pearce was a type of the gentleman of the old
school. Tall, with a commanding figure, expressive
Oratory and Anecdote.
177
features, blue eyes, and light hair, he was a brilliant
conversationalist and a welcome guest at dinner.
Senator William C. Preston, of South Carolina, was
not only one of the foremost orators in the. Senate, but
THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY.
a delightful conversationalist, with an inexhaustible
fund of reminiscence and anecdote. One of his col-
leagues in the House of Representatives, Mr. Warren
R. Davis, of the Pendleton district, was equally famed as
i/8 Perley^s Reminiscences.
a story-teller, and when they met at a social board they
monopolized the conversation, to the delight of the other
guests, who listened with attention and with admiration.
One evening — as the story is told — at a dinner-party,
over the Madeira and walnuts, which formed the invaria-
ble last course in those days, Mr. Preston launched forth
in a eulogium on the extraordinary power of condensa-
tion, in both thought and expression, which characterized
the ancient Greek and Latin languages, beyond anything
of the kind in modern tongues. On it he literally "dis<
coursed eloquent music," adorning it with frequent and
apt illustration, and among other examples citing the
celebrated admonition of the Spartan mother to her
warrior son on the eve of battle — "With your shield or
upon it !" The whole party were delighted with the
rich tones and classic teachings of the gifted colloquist,
except his equally gifted competitor for conversational
laurels, who, notwithstanding his enforced admiration,
sat uneasily under the prolonged disquisition, anxiously
waiting for an opportunity to take his place in the pic-
ture. At length a titillation seizing the olfactory nerve
of Mr. Preston, he paused to take a pinch of snuff, and
Mr. Davis immediately filled up the vacuum, taking up
the line of speech in this wise :
" I have listened," said he, "with equal edification and
pleasure to the classic discourse of our friend, sparkling
with gems alike of intellect and fancy, but I differ from
him toto c&lo. He may say what he will as to the superior
vigor and condensation of thought and speech charac-
teristic of classic Greece and Rome ; but, for my part,
I think there is nothing equal to our own vernacular in
these particulars, and I am fortunately able, although
from a humble sourc^ to give you a striking and con-
clusive example and illustration of the fact.
The Vernacular.
" As I was returning home from Congress, some
years since, I approached a river in North Carolina
which had been swollen by a recent freshet, and ob-
served a country girl fording it in a merry mood, and
carrying a piggin of butter on her head. As I arrived
at the river's edge the rustic Naiad emerged from the
watery element. ' My girl,' said I, ' how deep's the
water and what's the price of butter?' 'Up to your
waist and nine pence,' was the prompt and significant
response ! Let my learned friend beat that if he can,
in brevity and force of expression, by aught to be found
in all his treasury of classic lore ?"
A roar of laughter followed this humorous explosion,
and a unanimous vote in favor of the vernacular
awarded the palm to the distinguished and successful
wag over his classical but crest-fallen competitor.
The first restaurant established in Washington was
by a Frenchman named Boulanger, who was a pupil
of the famous Chevet, of the Palais Royal at Paris.
His cozy establishment was on G Street, just west of
the War Department, where he used to serve good
cheer to General Jackson, Van Bureii, Clay, Sir Charles
Vaughan, and other notables. His soups were gastro-
nomic triumphs, and he was an adept in serving oysters,
terrapin, reed-birds, quails, ortolan, and other delicacies
in the first style of culinary perfection. His brandies,
of his own importation, were of the choicest "bead and
brand," and he obtained from Alexandria some of the
choice old Madeira which had been imported before the
Revolution in return for cargoes of oak staves. Boul-
anger did not cherish flattering recollections of General
Jackson's taste, but Mr. Van Buren used to compliment
his savory repasts and enjoy artistic cheer.
The Treasury Department, which had been destroyed
i8o
Per ley's Reminiscences.
by fire, was rebuilt on a plan approved by President
Jackson. The eastern front, of Virginia sandstone,
was a colonnade copied from the Temple of Minerva
Pallas, at Athens, three hundred and thirty-six feet
long, with thirty Ionic columns. The artist was Robert
Mills, and he wish-
ed to set the build-
ing back some fifty
feet from the line
of the street, to
TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
give more effect to the architecture, but General Jack-
son directed him to bring it forward to the building line
of the street, and stuck his cane in the ground to show
where this was. Of course, he was obeyed.
John Quincy Adams used to occasionally attend the
theatre, and he was especially pleased with Hackett as
Falstaff. Hackett looked the fat knight well, and his
face interpreted many of his remarks and situations
Hackett and Crockett. 181
explicitly. He delivered the soliloquy upon honor
with fine effect, and the scenes at Gadd's Hill with
Bardolph and his nose, with Mrs. Quickly, and with
the Prince when detected in his exaggeration, were very
humorous and well pointed.
When Mr. Hackett took his benefit it was announced
that at the particular request of Colonel David Crockett,
of Tennessee, the comedian would appear on the
boards in his favorite character of " Nimrod Wildfire,"
in the play called " The Kentuckian ; or, a Trip to
New York." This brought out a house full to over-
flowing. At seven o'clock the Colonel was escorted by
the manager through the crowd to a front seat reserved
for him. As soon as he was recognized by the audi-
ence they made the very house shake with hurrahs for
Colonel Crockett, " Go ahead !" ." I wish I may.be
shot !" " Music ! let us have Crockett's March !" After
some time the curtain rose, and Hackett appeared in
hunting costume, bowed to the audience, and then to
Colonel Crockett. The compliment was reciprocated
by the Colonel, to the no small amusement and gratifi-
cation of the spectators, and the play then went on.
When Hiram Powers came to Washington, on his
way to Italy, he was rather mortified by the remark of
a jealous Italian artist, who saw in him a rival :
"When you have been ten years in Italy, you may,
perhaps, be able to chisel a little ;" before, however, a
fourth of that time had elapsed, Powers had finished,
from the rough marble block, the admirable bust of
Chief Justice Matshalt which now graces the hall of
the Supreme Court of the United States.
Among the visitors at Washington early in 1834
was Charles Sunmer, then a tall, slim, ungainly young
man, twenty-three years of age, who was a student at
182
Perley^s Reminiscences,
law in Boston, but not admitted to practice. He was
introduced by his friend, Mr. Justice Story, to Chief
Justice Marshall and Justices Thompson, Duval, and
McLean, and was invited to dine with them. It is not
known whether Justice Story told him — as he told
CHARLES SUMNER IN 1834.
Edmund Quincy — that the Court was so aesthetic that
they denied themselves wine, except in wet weather.
" But," added the commentator on the* Constitution,
" what I say about wine, sir, gives you our rule, but it
does sometimes happen that the Chief Justice will say
*-o me, when the cloth is removed, ' Brother Story, step
Simmer's First Visit. 183
to the window and see if it does not look like rain.'
If I tell him that the sun is shining, Judge Marshall
will reply : 'All the better, for our jurisdiction extends
over so large a territory that the doctrine of^chances
makes it certain that it must be raining somewhere,
and it will be safe to take something.' '
Mr. Sumner used to attend the sittings of the Su-
preme Court, which were commenced at eleven and
generally lasted until half-past three. The Senate and
House of Representatives met at noon and continued
in session until four and sometimes five o'clock. The
Senate generally adjourned over from Thursday until
Monday, and the House rarely sat on Saturday.
Among those with whom young Sumner became
acquainted at Washington was Dr. Francis Lieber, a
well-educated German, who had fought at Waterloo.
He was for more than twenty years a professor in the
University of South Carolina, vouched for as " sound
on the slavery question," but he afterward became a
bitter opponent of the South and of its " peculiar insti-
tution." He was a prolific contributor to the press,
and he never hesitated about enlisting the services of
friends and acquaintances when they could procure
materials for his use.
ANDREW STEVENSON was born in Culpepper County, Virginia, in 1784 ; was a Representative from
Virginiain Congress, 1823-1834; was Minister to Great Britain, 1836-1841 ; died in Albemarle County,
Virginia, January 25th, 1857.
fcHAPTER XIII.
JACKSON'S LAST YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
VAN BUREN AS VICE-PRESIDENT—HENRY CLAY DEFIANT AS THE CHAM-
PION OF THE BANK — WASHINGTON'S CENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY— RE-
MOVAL OF HIS REMAINS — THE DECAPITATION OF GENERAL JACKSON —
A PLUCKY CAPE COD MARINER — THE PRESIDENT AT THE RACE-TRACK
— AN OLD-TIME COCK FIGHT — WEDDING OF ROBERT E. LEE AT AR-
LINGTON—THE PUBLIC GARDENER— MISS FANNY KEMBLE— CHEESE
RECEPTION AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
MR. VAN BUREN, like his predecessor, Mr.
Calhoun, suffered mental martyrdom while
presiding over the Senate as Vice-President.
His manner was bland, as he thumped with his mallet
when the galleries were out of order, or declared that
" The ayes have it/' or, " The memorial is referred."
He received his fusillade of snubs and sneers as the
ghost of Creusa received the embraces of ^3£neas — he
heeded them not. He leaned back his head, threw one
leg upon the other, and sat as if he were a pleasant
sculptured image, destined for that niche of his life.
Henry Clay, then in his prime, was the champion of
the United States Bank in the Senate. One day in
debate he broke out in the most violent appeal to Mar-
tin Van Buren, then presiding in the Senate, to go to
the President and represent to him the actual condition
of the country. " Tell him," said Clay, " that in a
single city more than sixty bankruptcies, involving a
loss of upward of fifteen millions of dollars, have
184
Washington^ Centennial Birthday.
185
occurred. Tell him of the alarming decline in the
value of all property. Tell him of the tears of help-
less widows, no longer able to earn their bread, and of
unclad and unfed orphans who have been driven by his
policy out of the busy pursuits in which but yesterday
they were gaining an honest livelihood."
The centennial birthday of George Washington was
duly honored in the city which he had founded and
MOUNT VERNON.
which bore his name. Divine services were performed
at the Capitol, and there was a dinner at Brown's
Hotel, at which Daniel Webster prefaced the first toast
in honor of the Father of his Country by an eloquent
speech of an hour in length. In the evening there
were two public balls — " one for t*he gentry at Carusi's
saloon, and the other for mechanics and tradesmen at
the Masonic Temple."
Congress had proposed to pay signal homage to the
1 86 Perley^s Reminiscences.
memory of Washington on the centennial anniversary
of his birth by removing his remains to the crypt
beneath the dome of the Capitol. Mr. Custis, the
grandson of Mrs. Washington, had given his assent ;
bnt John A. Washington, then the owner of Mount
Vernon, declined to permit the removal of the remains.
Congress purchased Rembrandt Peale's portrait of
Washington, and the House ordered a full length
picture of him from Vanderlyn, a celebrated New York
artist. A commission was also given to Horatio
Greenough for a colossal statue of Washington in a
sitting posture, to be placed on a high pedestal in the
centre of the rotunda of the Capitol. The Washing-
ton National Monument Association, after consultation
with men of acknowledged artistic taste, selected from
among the numerous designs submitted a simple
obelisk, five hundred feet in height, for the erection of
which the American people began at once to contribute.
When " the solid men of Boston " ascertained that
General Jackson had actually signed the order for the
removal of the deposits from the Bank of the United
States while enjoying their hospitalities they were
very angry. Not long afterward they learned that
the United States frigate Constitution, a Boston-built
vessel, which was being repaired at the Charlestown
Navy Yard, was to be ornamented with a full-length
figure of General Jackson as a figure-head. This was
regarded as an insult, and the carver who was at work
on the figure was requested to stop working on it.
This he declined to do, and had his half-carved block
of wood taken to the Navy Yard, where he completed
his task under the protection of a guard of marines.
When the figure-head was completed it was securely
bolted to the cutwater of the Constitution, which was
The Graven Image.
i87
then hauled out to her anchorage, and a vessel was
stationed on either side of her.
The Bostonians grew more and more indignant, and
finally a daring young mariner from Cape Cod, Captain
Samuel Dewey, determined that he would decapitate
the obnoxious image. The night which he selected
was eminently propitious, as a severe rain storm raged,
accompanied by
heavy thunder
and sharp light-
ning. Dewey
sculled his boat
with a muffled
oar to the bow
of the frigate,
where he made it
fast, and climbed
up, protected by
the head boards,
only placed on
the vessel the
previous day.
Then, with a
finely tempered
saw, he cut off
the head, and
returned with it
to Boston, where a party of his friends were anxiously
waiting for him at Gallagher's Hotel. He was at once,
made a lion of by the Whigs, and Commodore Elliott
was almost frantic with rage over the insult thus
offered to his chief.
Dewey soon afterward went to Washington, where
he exhibited the grim features of the head to several
COMMODORE J. D. ELLIOTT.
i88
Per 'ley1 ]s Reminiscences.
leading Whigs, and finally carried it, tied up in a
bandana handkerchief, to the Navy Department. Send-
ing in his card to Mr. Mahlon Dickerson, then the
Secretary of the Navy, he obtained an andience. He
was a short, chunky sailor-man, with resolute blue-
gray eyes, which twinkled as he said, " Have I the
honor of addressing the Secretary of the Navy ?"
" You have," replied Mr. Dickerson, " and, as I am
very busy,! will thank
you to be brief."
" Mr. Dickerson,"
said the Captain, " I
am the man who re-
moved the figure-head
from the Constitution,
and I have brought it
here to restore it."
Secretary Dickerson
threw himself back in
his chair and looked
with astonishment at
the man who had cast
. such an indignity on
the Administration.
" Well, sir," said he,
the man who had the
THE HEAD RESTORED.
in an angry tone, you are
audacity to disfigure Old Ironsides?"
" Yes, sir, I took the responsibility."
" Well, sir, I will have you arrested immediately,"
and the Secretary reached toward his'bell to summon
his messenger.
" Stop, Mr. Secretary," said Captain Dewey ; " you,
as a lawyer, know that there is no statute against de;
facing a ship-of-war, and all you can do is to sue nie
The Conqueror's Saw.
189
for trespass, and that in the county where the offense
was committed. If you desire it, I will go back to
Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and stand my
trial."
Mr. Dickerson reflected a moment and said : " You
are right ; and now tell nie how you took away the
head."
Dewey told his story, and the story goes that Secre-
tary Dickerson asked him to wait while he stepped
over to the White House, followed by a messenger car-
rying the head. When General Jackson saw it, and
"l CAME, I SAW, I CONQUERED."
CAPTAIN DEWEY'S CARD.
heard the Secretary's story, he burst into a fit of un-
controllable laughter. " Why, that," he cried at length
— " why, that is the most infernal graven image I ever
saw. The fellow did perfectly right. You've got him,
you say ; well, give him a kick and my compliments,
and tell him to saw it off again." Dewey was after
this frequently at Washington^ and he finally obtained
the appointment of Postmaster in a small Virginia
town. He used to have on his visiting cards the rep-
resentation of a handsaw, under which was inscribed,
" I came, I saw, I conquered."
190 Perley^s Reminiscences.
General Jackson always liked the physical excite-
ment of a horse-race, where a large assemblage thrills
with but one thought from the word " Go!" until the
winning horse reaches the goal, and he was always to
be seen at the races over the National Course, just
north of Washington City. Delegations of sporting
men from the Atlantic cities crowded into the metropo-
lis during the race weeks ; there were jockey-club din-
ners and jockey-club balls ; and the course resounded
to the footfalls of noted horses, especially Boston, Sir
Charles, Bmily, and Blue Dick. In 1836 General
Jackson had a filly of his own raising brought from
the Hermitage and entered for a race by Major Donel-
son, his private secretary. Nor did he conceal his
chagrin when the filly was beaten by an imported Irish
colt named Langford, owned by Captain Stockton, of
the navy, and he had to pay lost wagers amounting to
nearly a thousand dollars, while Mr. Van Buren and
other devoted adherents who had bet on the filly were
also losers.
Baillie Peyton, of Tennessee, used to narrate an
amusing account of a visit which he made to the Na-
tional Race Course with General Jackson and a few
others to witness the training of some horses for an
approaching race. They went on horseback, General
Jackson riding his favorite gray horse, and wearing
his high white fur hat with a broad band of black
crape, which towered above the whole group. The
General greatly enjoyed the trials of speed, until a
horse named Busiris began to rear and plunge. This
stirred Old Hickory's mettle, and he rode forward to
give some energetic advice to the jockey, but just then
he saw that the Vice-President was ambling along at his
side on an easy-going nag. " Mr. Van Buren," he ex-
Jackson '5 A musemen ts.
191
claimed, " get behind me, sir ! They will run over you,
sir !" and the Little Magician, with his characteristic
diplomacy, which never gave offense, gracefully retired
to the rear of his chief, which, Mr. Peyton used to
say, was his place.
President Jackson used to visit his stable every morn-
ing, until he became feeble, and he paid especial atten-
tion to the manner in which his horses were shod. He
never, after he became President, played cards or bil-
liards, nor did he read anything except the Daily Globe
and his private correspondence. When he received a
letter that he desired one
of his Cabinet to read, he
would indorse on the
back " Sec. of — , A. J."
He used to smoke a great
deal, using either a new
clay pipe with a long
stem, or a pipe made from
a piece of a corn-cob, with
a reed stem.
Cock-fighting had been
one of General Jackson's
favorite home amuse-
ments, and he had become the possessor of a breed
of fowl that was invincible in Tennessee. He had
some of these pugnacious birds brought to Wash-
ington, and one spring morning he rode out toward
Bladensburg, with a select party of friends, to see
"a main" fought between the Hermitage and the
Annapolis cocks. The birds were not only trained
to fight, but were equipped for their bloody work.
Their heads and necks were plucked, their tail feath-
ers were closely trimmed, and their natural spurs
THE HERMITAGE BIRDS.
192 Per ley's Reminiscences.
were cut off and replaced by " gaffs," or sharp blades
of finely tempered steel. Kach bird had his trainer,
ready to administer stimulants and to sponge the blood
from the wounds inflicted by the gaffs. General Jack-
son was very confident that his favorites would again
be victorious, but there was no fight, to the great dis-
appointment of all present, who doubtless possessed
what has been called " the devil's nerve," which thrills
ARLINGTON.
with base enjoyment in the visible pain of man, beast,
or bird. The long confinement in coops on the stages,
or some other unknown cause, appeared to have de-
prived the Hermitage birds of their wonted pluck, and
the Annapolis cocks crowed in triumph.
There was a grand wedding at Arlington in Jack-
son's time, when Lieutenant Robert Edward Lee, fresh
from West Point, came up from Fortress Monroe to
marry the heiress of the estate, Mary Custis. Old
Lieutenant R. E. Lee.
193
Mr. Custis was delighted with his soldier son-in-law,
whose father had said of Washington that he was
" First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of
his countrymen." The Marshalls, the Carters, the
Fitzhughs, the Tayloes, and other " first families of
Virginia " were represented at the wedding, and the
happy young cou-
ple went, after the
ceremony, to old
Fortress Monroe,
where they resided
for a while in a case-
mate fitted up as
officers' quarters.
The next year Lieu-
tenant Lee brought
his bride back to
Arlington, which
was their happy
home until he was
persuaded to enlist
under the' ' stars and
bars " of the South-
ern Confederacy.
One of General Jackson's favorites was Jemmy
Maher, an Irishman, whom he had appointed public
gardener, a position of some responsibility in those
days, when its holder had to look after the gardens at
the White House, the Capitol, and the Departments.
Jemmy's father had been forced to flee to this country
to avoid punishment for participation in the Irish re-
bellion of '98, and the son regarded all Englishmen as
his foes. General Jackson, who had u whipped the
British " at New Orleans, was the object of his especial
13
LIEUTENANT ROBERT E. LEE.
194
Per ley's Reminiscences.
adoration, especially as he used to forgive him when
the Superintendent of Public Buildings occasionally
complained that he drank whisky rather too freely.
" Shure, Mr. President," he would say, " I niver drink
unless I am dry, and it would be mane in me not to
invite me frinds to jine and take a drap with me."
General Jackson
was not fond of the
theatre, but he went
to see the widely her-
alded performance of
Miss Fanny Kemble.
The niece of Mrs. Sid-
dons and John Kem-
ble, and the daughter
of Charles Kemble,
she had been trained
from early childhood
Ik to sustain the reputa-
ff tion of her distinguish-
ed theatrical family.
A good-looking young
woman, with large,
dark eyes, a profusion
of dark hair, a low
forehead, and healthy strawberry-and-cream complexion,
she was personally attractive, and wonderfully effective.
Every movement, gesture, and inflection of voice had
been carefully studied, and when making an ordinary
remark in conversation she would deliver her words
with a deliberate attempt at stage effect. Her Juliet,
with her father's Romeo, was her best character, but
they failed signally as Lady Teazle and Charles Sur-
face in the School for Scandal.
MISS FANNY KEMBLE.
In the Cheese Business. 195
Miss Kemble did not remain long on the American
stage, as she became the wife of Mr. Pierce Butler, a
wealthy slave-owner, in 1834. The next year her
Journal appeared, in which she criticised what she had
seen and heard with a free hand, but " 'twas pretty
Fanny's way," and no one got angry over her silly
twaddle. One of the fair author's predictions concern-
ing the fate of our polity yet awaits fulfillment. " It
is my conviction," said she, " that America will be a
monarchy before I am a skeleton." Fifty years have
passed since these words were written, and the proph-
etess has developed into a portly matron, anything but
a skeleton, and very unlike the slender Miss of Jack-
son's time.
When Jefferson was President, the agricultural town
of Cheshire, in Western Massachusetts, which had
been drilled by its Democratic pastor, named Iceland,
into the unanimous support of the Sage of Monticello,
determined to present him with the biggest cheese that
had ever been seen. So on a given day every cow-owner
brought his quota of freshly made curd to a large cider-
press, which had been converted into a cheese-press,
and in which a cheese was pressed that weighed one
thousand six hundred pounds. It was brought to
Washington in the following winter on a sled, under
the charge of Parson Leland, and in the name of the
people of Cheshire, was formally presented to President
Jefferson in the then unfinished Bast Room. Jeffer-
son, of course, returned thanks, and after having a
great wedge cut from the cheese, to send back to the
donors, he invited all present to help themselves. The
cheese was variegated in appearance, owing to so many
dairies having contributed the curd, but the flavor was
pronounced the best ever tasted in Washington.
196
Perley*s Reminiscences.
Jackson's admirers thought that every honor which
Jefferson had ever received should be paid him, so some
of them, residing in a rural district of New York, got
up, under the superintendence of a Mr. Meacham, a
mammoth cheese for " Old Hickory." After having
been exhibited at New York, Philadelphia, and Balti-
more, it was kept for some time in the vestibule at the
THE GREAT CHEESE LEVEE.
White House, and was finally cut at an afternoon re-
ception on the 22d of February, 1837. For hours did
a crowd of men, women, and boys hack at the cheese,
many taking large hunks of it away with them. When
they commenced, the cheese weighed one thousand four
hundred pounds, and only a small piece was saved for
the President's use. The air was redolent with cheese,
the carpet was slippery with cheese, and nothing else
Jackson's Last Reception. 197
was talked about at Washington that day. Even the
scandal about the wife of the President's Secretary of
War was forgotten in the tumultuous jubilation of that
great occasion.
General Jackson received that day for the last time at
the White House, and was so feeble that he had to re-
main seated. Mrs. Donelson stood on one side, and on
the other was Van Buren, who was inaugurated as
President a fortnight later.
WILLIAM RUFUS KING was born in North Carolina, April ist, 1786 ; was a Representative in
Congress from Alabama from November 4th, 1811, until he resigned to accompany William Pinkney
to Russia as Secretary of Legation, April 23d, 1816; was United States Senator from Alabama from
March 4th, 1819, until he resigned logo as Minister to France, April pth, 1844 ; was again United
States Senator from December yth, 1846, to March 4th, 1853; was elected Vice- President on the
Pierce ticket in 1853, as a Democrat, receiving two hundred and fifty-four electoral votes, against
forty-two electoral votes for W: R. Graham, a Whig ; having gone to Europe for his health, he
took the oath of office near Havana, March 4th, 1853 : returning to his home at Catawba, Alabama,
where he died, April i8th, 1853, the day following his arrival.
CHAPTER XIV.
VAN BUREN'S STORMY ADMINISTRATION.
INAUGURATION OF VAN BUREN— HIS FIRST RECEPTION — DEPARTURE
OF JACKSON FOR THE HERMITAGE— VAN BUREN'S EMBARRASSMENTS
— THE GREAT FINANCIAL DEBATE— ANTAGONISM OF CLAY AND C AL-
HOUN— AN ALL-NIGHT SESSION— MORNING EXCUSES— THE GRAVES
AND CILLEY DUEL— A CONGRESSIONAL COMEDIAN.
WHILE the electoral votes for the eighth Presi-
dent of the United States were being
counted, in the presence of the two Houses
of Congress, Senator Clay remarked to Vice-President
Van Buren, with courteous significance, " It is a cloudy
day, sir!"
. " The sun will shine on the 4th of March, sir !" was
the Little Magician's confident reply.
The prediction was fulfilled, for on Van Buren's in-
augural morning, March 4th, 1837, the sun shone
brightly, and there was not a cloud to be seen. Wash-
ington was crowded with strangers from all parts of
the country, and in anticipation of the time set for the
ceremony great numbers began to direct their way at
an early hour to the Capitol. Congregating before
the eastern portico of the Capitol, the dense mass of
humanity reminded those who had traveled abroad of
the assembled multitude in front of St. Peter's on
Easter Sunday waiting to receive the Papal blessing.
President Jackson and President-elect Van Buren
were escorted from the White House to the Capitol by
198
Van Burerfs Inauguration.
199
a volunteer brigade of cavalry and infantry and by
several Democratic political organizations. General
Jackson and his successor rode in an elegant phaeton,
constructed of oak from the original timber of the
frigate Constitution. It had been made at Amherst,
Massachusetts, and was presented by sixty admirers.
MARTIN VAN BUREN.
It had one seat, holding two persons, and a high box
for the driver in front, bordered with a deep hammer-
cloth. The unpainted wood was highly polished, and
its fine grain was brought out by a coat of varnish,
while on a panel on either side was a representation of
" Old Ironsides " under full sail. The phaeton was
2OO
Perley^s Reminiscences.
drawn by General Jackson's four iron-gray carriage-
horses, with, elaborate brass-mounted harness.
Arriving at the Capitol, General Jackson and Mr.
Van Buren went to the Senate Chamber, where they
witnessed Colonel Johnson take his oath of office as
Vice-President. They then repaired to a platform
erected over the steps of the eastern portico, followed
by the Diplomatic Corps, the Senators, and the prin-
1. Rotunda.
2. Library.
3. Senate Chamber.
4. Hall of Representatives.
5. Eastern Portico.
6. Western Portico.
DIAGRAM OF MAIN FLOOR OF THE CAPITOL IN 1837.
cipal executive officials. A cheer greeted the old hero,
who had risen from a sick-bed, against the protest of
his physician, that he might grace the scene, and a
smile of satisfaction lit up his wan, stern features as
he stood leaning on his cane with one hand and hold-
ing with the other his crape-bound white fur hat, while
he acknowledged the compliment paid him by a suc-
cession of bows. Mr. Van Buren then advanced to the
Reception at the White House. 201
front of the platform, and with impressive dignity
read in a clear, distinct voice his inaugural address.
His manner and emphasis were excellent, yet the effect
upon the multitude was not what might have been ex-
pected from so great a collection of men devoted to his
support. When he had concluded Chief Justice Taney
administered the oath of office, and no sooner had Van
Buren kissed the Bible, as a pledge of his assent, than
General Jackson advanced and shook him cordially by
the hand. The other dignitaries on the platform fol-
lowed with their congratulations, the populace cheered,
and the bands played " Hail to the Chief!"
President Van Buren and ex- President Jackson were
then escorted back to the White House, where for three
hours a surging tide of humanity swept past the new
Chief Magistrate, congratulating him on his inaugura-
tion. The assemblage was a promiscuous one, and the
reception was as disorderly an affair as could well be
imagined. At four o'clock in the afternoon the mem-
bers of the Diplomatic Corps called in a body, wearing
their court dresses, and Don Calderon de la Barca, who
was their Dean, presented a congratulatory address. In
his reply, Mr. Van Buren made his only known lapsus
lingucz by addressing them as the " Democratic corps."
It was not until after his attention had been called to
the mistake that he corrected himself, and stated that
he had intended to say " Diplomatic Corps." In the
evening two inauguration balls were given.
Many strangers had been unable to find conveyances
to take them away and could not obtain lodging places.
It was interesting, toward nightfall, to witness the
gathering anxiety in many a good citizen's counte-
nance as he went from boarding-house to hotel, and
from hotel to private residence, seeking lodgings in
202
Perley's Reminiscences.
vain. Money could indeed procure the most luxurious
dishes and the rarest beverages ; but while the palate
could be gratified there was no rest for weary limbs.
" Beds ! beds ! beds !" was the general cry. Hundreds
slept in the market-house on bundles of hay, and a
party of distinguished Bostonians passed the night in
the shaving-chairs of a barber's shop.
CAMPING IN A BARBER-SHOP.
General Jackson soon left for Tennessee, relieved
from the cares of the Presidential station, and exhibit-
ing an unwonted gayety of spirit. During the previous
winter he had not expected to live until the conclusion
of his term, and he could but feel buoyant and happy
in finding himself sufficiently recovered to undertake
the journey, with the prospect of enjoying some years
Van Buretfs Manner.
203
at the Hermitage, in the midst of the agricultural occu-
pations of which he was so fond.
President Van Buren was the first President who had
not been born a British subject, yet he was at heart a
monarchist, opposed to universal suffrage, and in favor
of a strong central government, although he had
reached his exalted position by loud professions of de-
mocracy. He endeavored to establish a personal inti-
THE HERMITAGE.
macy with every one presented to him, and he ostensibly
opened his heart for inspection. The tone of his voice
was that of thorough frankness, accompanied by a
pleasant smile, but a fixed expression at the corners of
his mouth and the searching look of his keen eyes
showed that he believed, with Talleyrand, that language
was given to conceal thought. He found himself sad-
dled at the commencement of his Administration with
204 Perley^s Reminiscences.
national financial embarrassments, bequeathed as a
legacy by his " illustrious predecessor," as he desig-
nated General Jackson in one of his messages. The
destruction of the United States Bank had forced the
transfer of the national funds, which it had held on
deposit, to the State banks. They had loaned these
funds on securities, often of doubtful value or worth-
less, and when the day of reckoning came general
bankruptcy ensued. Manufacturers were obliged to
discharge their workmen ; provisions were scarce and
dear in the Atlantic States, because funds could not be
obtained for the removal eastward of the Western
crops ; and there was much actual distress in the large
cities on the sea coast.
To quiet the popular clamor, President Van Buren
convened Congress in an extra session, and in his mes-
sage to that body on its assembling he proposed the es-
tablishment of an independent Treasury, with sub-
Treasuries in different cities, for the safe keeping of the
public money, entirely separate from the banks. The
Whigs opposed this independent Treasury scheme, but,
to the surprise of those with whom he had of late been
politically affiliated, it received the cordial support of
Mr. Calhoun. When Congress began to discuss this
measure, he became its champion in the Senate, and
soon " locked horns " with Mr. Clay, who led its oppo-
nents. The debate was continued session after session,
and in time Messrs. Clay and Calhoun passed from
their discussion of national finances into an acrimoni-
ous reciprocal review of the acts, votes, and motions of
each other during the preceding thirty years.
During the debate in the House on the bill authoriz-
ing the issue of Treasury notes there was an all-night
session. The Democrats had determined in caucus to
A Night Session. 205
" sit out the bill," and whenever a Whig moved to
adjourn his motion was promptly negatived. As dark-
ness came on the lamps were lighted and trimmed,
candles were brought into the hall, and the older and
feebler members, " pairing off," took their cloaks and
hats and left. The House being in Committee of the
Whole, whenever they found no quorum voting, were
obliged by the parliamentary usage to rise and report
that fact to the House. When this was done, and the
House was again in session as a House, behold, a quo-
rum instantly appeared ; and then, by the same law,
they were obliged to return into Committee again.
This happened so often that at length gentlemen of the
Administration side became irritated, remonstrated,
demanded that members should be counted in their
seats, whether they had voted or no, and at length
came to insist that individuals, by name, be compelled
to vote. Such a motion having been made in one case,
a voice cried out in the confusion which filled the
chamber: "How are you going to do it ?" and the
query was succeeded by shouts of laughter, mingled
with sounds of vexation.
As midnight approached it was curious to watch the
various effects produced by the scene on different tem-
peraments. Some yawned fearfully ; others cursed and
swore ; others shook their sides with merriment ; others
reasoned and remonstrated with their neighbors ; some
very composedly stretched themselves upon the sofas,
having first borrowed chair-cushions enough to support
their somnolent heads ; others bivouacked on three
chairs, while some, not finding other convenient couch,
stretched themselves flat on the floor of the House,
with, perhaps, a volume of the Laws of the United
States as their pillow.
206 Perley^s Reminiscences.
At half-past one a call of the House was ordered, the
doors were closed, and one hundred and forty-nine
members were found to be present. This House went
into Committee of the Whole to come out of it again,
and the yeas and nays were called until the clerk grew
hoarse. Thus rolled the hours away. Candles burned
down to their sockets, forming picturesque grottoes of
spermaceti as they declined ; lamps went out in suffo-
cating fumes. Some insisted on having a window up ;
others on having it down.
When the morning light began to dawn through the
large south windows of the Representatives' Hall, it con-
trasted strongly with the glare of lights, the smoke of
the lamps, and all the crowded tumult within. At four
o'clock the Sergeant-at-Arms arrived with Corwin, Gid-
dings, and a dozen other captured absentees, who were,
one by one, required to account for their absence by
the Speaker, who would say : " Mr. A B, you have
absented yourself from the House during its sittings,
contrary to law, and without leave of the House.; what
excuse have you to offer ?" And then the unfortunate
men made out the best story they could. Some had
been sick ; others had had a sick wife ; others had got
a bad headache from the late session ; some had wit-
nessed such night scenes on former occasions, and did
not wish to see the like again ; one had told the Ser-
geant he would come if he would send a hack for him,
and no hack had been sent ; while one very cavalierly
informed the House that the reason why he had been
absent was that he had not been there. Many were
excused altogether ; others discharged from custody on
paying their fines (about two dollars each to the Ser-
geant for his fee of arrest). One batch having thus
been disposed of, the officer was dispatched to make
Another Duel. 207
another haul, and in the meantime the old game was
continued ; and, as neither party would yield, the un-
profitable contest was prolonged, not till broad daylight
merely, but down to eleven o'clock, when, all proposi-
tions of compromise having been rejected, the debate
was regularly renewed. Finally, at a quarter before
five o'clock, the House adjourned, quite fagged out.
Among other evidences of the bitter and ferocious
spirit which characterized political contests in those
days was the duel between Representative Cilley, of
Maine, and Representative Graves, of Kentucky, in
which the former fell. Mr. Cilley, in a speech deliv-
ered in the House of Representatives, criticised a
charge of corruption brought against some unnamed
Congressman in a letter published in the New York
Courier and Enquirer, over the signature of " A Spy
in Washington," and indorsed in the editorial columns
of that paper. Mr. James Watson Webb, the editor of
the Courier and Enquirer, immediately visited Washing-
ton and sent a challenge to Mr. Cilley by Mr. Graves,
with whom he had but a slight acquaintance. Mr.
Cilley declined to receive the hostile communication
from Mr. Graves, without making any reflection on the
personal character of Mr. Webb. Mr. Graves then
felt himself Txmnd by the unwritten code of honor to
espouse the cause of Mr. Webb, and challenged Mr.
Cilley himself. This challenge was accepted, and the
preliminaries were arranged between Mr. Henry A.
Wise, as the second of Mr. Graves, and Mr. George
W. Jones, as the second of Mr. Cilley. Rifles were
selected as the weapons, and Mr. Graves found diffi-
culty in obtaining one, but was finally supplied by his
friend, Mr. Rives, of the Globe. The parties met, the
ground was measured, and the combatants were placed ;
2o8 Perley's Reminiscences.
on the fourth fire Mr. Cilley fell, shot through the
body, and died almost instantly. Mr. Graves, on see-
ing his antagonist fall, expressed a desire to render
him some assistance, but was told by Mr. Jones, " My
friend is dead, sir !" Mr. Cilley, who left a wife and
three young children, was a popular favorite, and his
tragic end caused a great excitement all over the
country. Mr. Wise was generally blamed for having
instigated the fatal encounter; certainly, he did not
endeavor to prevent it. His relation to the affair won
him a life-long notoriety, and gave him position as an
authority on such affairs, as is illustrated in an auto-
graph letter, now in my possession, written several
years later by Preston S. Brooks to Mr. Wise, in which
he says : "I write to ask where your argument in
support of the Southern mode of settling quarrels may
be found ? Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina, thinks
that it was made with reference to the Graves and
Cilley meeting. .Mr. C. wishes to avail himself of
some of your views."
The Capital had its comedies as well as its tragedies,
and the leading comedian was Thomas Corwin, a Rep-
resentative from Ohio, who was a type of early Western
culture and a born humorist. He was a middle-sized,
somewhat stout man, with cheery, pleasing manners, a
fine head, sparkling hazel eyes, and a complexion so
dark that on several occasions — as he used to narrate
with great glee — he was supposed to be of African
descent. " There is no need of my working," said he,
" for whenever I cannot support myself in Ohio, all I
should have to do would be to cross the river, give my-
self up to a Kentucky negro-trader, be taken South,
and sold for a field hand." He always had a story
ready to illustrate a subject of conversation, and the
A Keen Retort. 209
dry manner in which he enlivened his speeches by
pungent witticism, without a smile on his own stolid
countenance, was irresistible.
He was once addressing a Whig mass meeting at
Marietta, Ohio, and was taking especial pains not to
say anything that could offend the Abolitionists, who
were beginning to throw a large vote. A sharp witted
opponent, to draw him out asked : " Shouldn't niggers
be permitted to sit at the table with white folks, on
steamboats and at hotels ?" " Fellow-citizens," ex-
claimed Corwin, his swarthy features beaming with
suppressed fun, " I ask you whether it is proper to ask
such a question of a gentleman of my color ?" The
crowd cheered and the questioner was silenced.
MARTIN VAN BUREN was born at Kinderhook, New York, December sth, 1782 ; was a United
States Senator from New York from December 3d, 1821, to December 2oth, 1828, when he resigned
to accept the office of Governor of New York ; this position he resigned on the I2th of March, 1829,
having been appointed by President Jackson Secretary of State of the United States ; this position
he resigned August ist, 1831, having been appointed by President Jackson Minister to Great Britain,
but the Senate rejected his nomination; was elected Vice-President on the Jackson ticket in 1832;
was elected President in 1836; was defeated as the Democratic candidate for President in 1840; was
the candidate of the Anti- Slavery party for President in 1848, and died at Kinderhook, New York,
July 24th, 1862.
CHAPTER XV.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.
\GITATION OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION — EARLY SECESSION MOVEMENTS
— DANIEL WEBSTER ON EMANCIPATION — HIS IDEA OF THE FAR WEST
— FRANKLIN PIERCE'S POSITION — SERGEANT S. PRENTISS, THE FORE-
MOST OF ORATORS — JOSEPH HOLT— W. R. KING — THE BUCKSHOT WAR
— STAR ROUTES — PRESIDENT VAN BUREN'S TITLES.
IT was during the Administration of Mr. Van
Buren that the English Abolitionists first began
to propagate their doctrines in the Northern
States, where the nucleus of an anti-slavery party was
soon formed. This alarmed the Southerners, who,
under the lead of Mr. Calhoun, threatened disunion if
their " peculiar institution " was not let alone. The
gifted South Carolinian having in January, 1838, paid
a high compliment in debate to John Randolph for his
uncompromising hostility to the Missouri Compromise,
Mr. Clay said : " I well remember the Compromise Act
and the part taken in that discussion by the distin-
guished member from Virginia, whose name has been
mentioned, and whose death I most sincerely lament.
At that time we were members of the other House.
Upon one occasion, during a night session, another
member from Virginia, through fatigue and the offen-
sive exhalations from one of the surrounding lamps,
fainted in his seat and was borne to the rear of the
Representatives' Hall. Calling some one to the
Speaker's chair, I left my place to learn the character
210
Agitation on Slavery. .2.11
and extent of his illness. Returning to the desk, I
was met in one of the aisles by Mr. Randolph, to
whom I had not spoken for several weeks. ' Ah, Mr.
Speaker,' said he, ' I wish you would leave Congress
and go to Kentucky. I will follow you there or any-
where else.' I well understood what he meant, for at
that time a proposition had been made to the Southern
members, and the matter partly discussed by them, of
leaving Congress in the possession of the Northern
members and returning home, each to his respective
constituents. I told Mr. Randolph that I could not
then speak to him about the matter, and requested him
to meet me in the Speaker's room early the next morn-
ing. With his usual punctuality he came. We talked
over the Compromise Act, he defending his favorite
position and I defending mine. We were together an
hour, but to no purpose. Through the whole he was
unyielding and uncompromising to the last. We
parted, shook hands, and promised to be good friends,
and I never met him again during the session. Such,"
continued Mr. Clay, " was the part Mr. Randolph took
in that discussion, and such were his uncompromising
feelings of hostility toward the North and all who did
not believe with him. His acts came near shaking this
Union to the centre and desolating this fair land. The
measures before us now, and the unyielding and uncom-
promising spirit are like then, and tend to the same
sad and dangerous end — dissolution and desolation,
disunion and.ruin."
On the same day, in 1838, Mr. Webster gave in his
opinion that Congress had power to abolish slavery in
the District of Columbia. That power, he said, was
granted in the most express, explicit, and undoubted
terms. It declared that Congress should have " exclu-
212
Perley*s Reminiscences.
sive jurisdiction over all subjects whatsoever in th<:
District of Columbia." Mr. Webster said that he had
searched and listened for some argument or some law
to controvert this position. He had read and studied
carefully the act of cession of the ten miles square
ORIGINAL DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
from Maryland and Virginia, and he could find nothing
there, and nowhere else, to gainsay the plain and
express letter of the Constitution. This inspired the
Abolitionists with the hope that Mr. Webster would
become the leader of the crusade against slavery that
Webster and the West. 213
they had decided to inaugurate. At that time he un-
questionably leaned toward emancipation, not only in
the District of Columbia, but everywhere in the United
States. This was noticed by the Southern leaders,
who began to tempt him with promises of support for
the Presidency — promises which were subsequently
broken again and again that a more subservient and
available tool might be placed in power.
Before allying himself with the South, Mr. Webster
endeavored to identify himself with the West by invest-
ing largely in a city laid out on paper in a township in
Rock Island County, Illinois. It was at the mouth
of Rock River, and it was to have borne the name of
Rock Island City. Fletcher Webster went out there
and remained for a time, I think, accompanied by his
friend, George Curson. Caleb Cushing was also inter-
ested in the embryo city, but somehow it was not a
success.
Mr. Webster had, however, a very vague idea of the
" Great West " of his day. On one occasion when he
was in the Senate a proposition was before it to estab-
lish a mail-route from Independence, Mo., to the
mouth of the Columbia River, some three thousand
miles, across plains and mountains, about the extent of
which the public then knew no more than they did of
the interior of Thibet. Mr. Webster, after denouncing
the measure generally, closed with a few remarks con-
cerning the country at large. " What do we want ?"
he exclaimed, " with this vast, worthless area ? This
region of savages and wild beasts, of deserts of shift-
ing sands and whirlwinds of dust, of cactus and prairie
dogs ? To what use could we ever hope to put these
great deserts, or those endless mountain ranges, im-
penetrable and covered to their very base with eternal
214
Parley's Reminiscences.
snow ? What can we ever hope to do with the western
coast, a coast of three thousand miles, rock-bound,
cheerless, uninviting, and not a harbor on it? What
use have we for this country ?"
Franklin Pierce, who had served two terms in the
House of Representatives, was then elected to the Sen-
ate. He proved a valuable recruit for the Southern
ranks, as when in the House he had risen one day to a
question of privilege,
and warmly resented
the reading by Mr.
Calhoun in the Senate
of an article from the
Concord Herald of
/V Freedom, which de-
clared that the Aboli-
tionists in New Hamp-
shire were as one to
thirty. This journal,
Mr. Pierce said, " was
too insignificant and
too odious, in the eyes
of his constituents, to
be cited as authority.
No age or country had
ever been free from fanatics, and with equal justice
might the whole people of New York be charged with
being followers of Matthias as the people of New
Hampshire for favoring the designs of the Knapps
and Garrisons and Thompsons."
Sergeant Smith Prentiss, who came to Washington
during the Van Buren Administration to claim a seat
in Congress as a Representative from Mississippi, was
the most eloquent speaker that I have ever heard. The
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON.
Prominent Orators.
215
lame and lisping boy from Maine had ripened, under
the Southern sun, into a master orator. The original,
ever-varying, and beautiful imagery with which he
illustrated and enforced his arguments impressed
Webster, Clay, Everett, and even John Quincy Adams.
But his forte lay in arraigning his political opponents,
when his oratory was " terrible as an army with ban-
ners ;" nothing could stand against the energy of his
look, gesture, and im-
passioned logic, when
once he was fairly un-
der way, in denounc-
ing the tricks and sel-
fish cunning of mere
party management.
The printed reports of
his speeches are mere
skeletons, which give
but a faint idea of
them. Even the few
rhetorical passages
that are retained have
lost much of their
original form and
beauty. The profes-
sional stenographers confessed themselves utterly baf-
fled in the attempt to report him, and he was quite as
unfitted to report himself. Indeed, he complained that
he never could reproduce the best thoughts, still less
the exact language, of his speeches.
The principal antagonist of Mr. Prentiss, in the
courts of Mississippi, was Joseph Holt, a young Ken-
tucky lawyer, who had acquired a national reputation
for oratory by a speech which he made in the National
JOSEPH HOLT.
2l6
Perley^s Reminiscences.
Democratic Convention of 1836, when he advocated
the nomination of Colonel Richard M. Johnson in a
speech of great beauty and power. His arguments
were persuasive, the tones of his voice were melodious,
and he insinuated himself and his cause into the hearts
of his audience, rather than carried them by storm.
Devoted to the South and its peculiar institution, he
was welcomed in the State of Mississippi, and soon
took a prominent po-
sition at the bar of her
higher courts.
William Rufus
King, of Alabama, who
was elected President
pro tempore of the Sen-
ate while Colonel
Johnson was Vice-
President, was a prim,
spare bachelor, known
among his friends as
"Miss Nancy King."
When a young man
he had accompanied
the Minister to Russia,
William Pinkney, to
St. Petersburg, as Secretary of the Legation of the
United States. Residing there for two years, he ac-
quired the formal manners of the Court of the Em-
peror Alexander, with a diplomatic craftiness which he
always retained. He was a courteous presiding officer,
as was thus oddly exemplified while he occupied the
chair. The two Senators from the State of Arkansas
pronounced the name of their State differently. Mr.
King punctiliously observed the difference, invariably
WILLIAM RUFUS KING.
Van Bur en's Troubles.
217
recognizing one as " the gentleman from Ar-kan-sas,"
and the other as " the gentleman from Ark-an-sas."
Mr. Van Buren was much exercised by a difficulty
in the Pennsylvania Legislature, which the State
militia was called out to quell, and which it was thought
might result in a demand for the intervention of United
States troops. Thaddeus Stevens, then an ardent
Whig, was a leader in the attempt to force eleven ille-
gally elected members
into the House at the
point of the bayonet,
the troops having
their muskets loaded
with buckshot. When
the enterprise collaps-
ed, Stevens jumped
from a back window
of the Capitol and ran
off to Gettysburg,
where he remained
without claiming his
seat for about a month,
when he came in and
offered to take the
oath, but the House
resolved, with great solemnity, that the seat was vacant,
although others who had been out nearly as long were
admitted without hesitation.
A prominent young Virginia lawyer, named William
Smith,, who practiced at Culpepper Court-House, be-
came interested in a mail-route between Washington
City and Milledgeville, Georgia, and he grew to be an
extensive contractor. Many of his mail-routes were
but lit.tle more than bridle-paths, over which the mails
THADDEUS STEVENS.
2i8 Per ley's Reminiscences.
were carried on horseback. With an 'eye to the main
chance, and with a laudable desire to extend the mail
facilities of Virginia, Mr. Smith managed to secure a
large number of " expeditions " through Parson Oba-
diah Bruin Brown, commonly called " Parson Obadiah
Bruin Beeswax Brown," the Superintendent of the
contract office of the Post-office Department. In place
of the horseback system stage lines would be substitu-
ted, and this service would be frequently " expedited r/
without much of a view to " productiveness," from one
trip to three or six trips per week. All of these " ex-
peditions " were noted by stars (* *) at the bottom of
Smith's vouchers, which, interpreted, meant " extra
allowance." So frequently did these stars appear in
the Virginia contractor's accounts that he soon came
to be known in the Post-office Department as " Extra
Billy " Smith, and it adhered to him in after life, when
he became a member of the House of Representatives
and afterward Governor of Virginia. He still lives
at Warrenton, a hale and hearty old man.
Mr. Van Buren had an abundance of political nick-
names. He was " the sweet little fellow " of Mr.
Ritchie of the Richmond Inquirer, and " the Northern
man with Southern principles " of the Charleston
Courier; Mr. Clinton baptized him "the Political
Grimalkin;" Mr. Calhoun, " the Weazel ;" while he
helped himself to the still less nattering name of " the
follower in the footsteps " — that is, the successor of his
predecessor, a sort of masculine Madame Blaize,
" Who strove the neighborhood to please,
With manners wondrous winning,
And never followed wicked ways,
Except when she was sinning,"
who clad all the hungry and naked office-holders " that
The Dead Arise. 219
left a pledge "behind " of supporting him ; and, like
that good dame, led the way to all those who came be-
hind her.
The Southern nullifiers, who had been " squelched "
by General Jackson, began to revive under the more
genial rule of Mr. Van Buren, and they established an
" organ " called the Washington Chronicle. It was
edited by Richard K. Cralle, who came from Leesburg,
Virginia. He was a well-educated gentleman, ultra in
his opinions on free trade and Southern rights ; but
those who were enthusiastic in their praises of his edi-
torials did not subscribe to the Chronicle, or if they
did, never condescended to pay their subscriptions. So
the paper ruined its printers and then gave up the
ghost, Mr. Calhoun securing a department clerkship
for Mr. Cralle.
TRISTAM BURGBSS was born at Rochester, Massachusetts, February 26th, 1770; was a Represen-
tative in Congress from Rhode Island from December ist, 1825, until March 3d, 1835 ; was defeated
as the Whig candidate for Congress, and afterward as the Whig candidate for Governor, and died at
Providence, Rhode Island, October i3th, 1853.
CHAPTER XVI.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE AT WASHINGTON.
PRESIDENTIAL HOSPITALITIES — SOCIAL ENTERTAINMENTS— A GIFTED
. ADVENTURESS — ESPY, THE WEATHER KING— A FOREIGN INDORSE-
MENT—VAN BUREN'S RE-ELECTION — THE OGLE SPEECH — VAN BU-
REN'S NEW YEAR'S RECEPTION.
PRESIDENT VAN BUREN'S wife (by birth
Miss Hannah Hoes, of Columbia County,
New York) had been dead nineteen years
when he took possession of the White House, accom-
panied by his four sons, and presided over the official
receptions and dinner parties with his well-known tact
and politeness. In the November following his inaug-
uration, his eldest son. and private " secretary, Colonel
Abraham Van Buren (who was a graduate of the Mili-
tary Academy at West Point, and who had served on
the staff of General Worth), was married to Miss
Angelica Singleton, a wealthy South Carolina lady,
who had been educated at Philadelphia, and who had
passed the preceding winter at Washington in the
family of her relative, Senator Preston. On the New
Year's day succeeding the wedding Mrs. Van Buren,
assisted by the wives of the Cabinet officers, received
with her father-in-law, the President. Her rare accom-
plishments, superior education, beauty of face and
figure, grace of manner, and vivacity in conversation
insured social success. The White House was refur-
nished in the most expensive manner, and a -code of
220
Healing the Breaches. 22 1
etiquette was established which rivaled that of a Ger-
man principality.
The President endeavored to restore the good feeling
between the Administration and Washington u society,"
which had been ruptured during the political rule of
General Jackson. He gave numerous entertainments
at the White House, and used to attend those given by
his Cabinet, which was regarded as an innovation, as
his predecessors had never accepted social invitations.
Kx-President Adams, the widow of President Madison,
and the widow of Alexander Hamilton each formed the
centre of a pleasant coterie, and the President was open
in the expression of his desire that the members of his
Cabinet and their principal subordinates should each
give a series of dinner-parties and evening receptions
during the successive sessions of Congress.
The dinner-parties were very much alike, and those
who were in succession guests at different houses often
saw the same table ornaments, and were served by the
same waiters, while the fare was prepared by the same
cook. The guests used to assemble in the parlor, which
was almost invariably connected with the dining-room
by large folding doors. When the dinner was ready
the doors were thrown open, and the table was revealed,
laden with china and cut-glass ware. A watery com-
pound called vegetable soup was invariably served, fol-
lowed by boiled fish, overdone roast beef or mutton,
roast fowl or game in season, and a great variety of
puddings, pies, cakes, and ice-creams. The fish, meat,
and fowl were carved and helped by the host, while the
lady of the house distributed the vegetables, the
pickles, and the dessert. Champagne, without ice, was
sparingly supplied in long, slender glasses, but there was
no lack of sound claret, and with the dessert several
222
Perley^s Reminiscences.
bottles of old Madeira were generally produced by the
host, who succinctly gave the age and history of each.
The best Madeira was that labeled " The Supreme
Court," as their Honors, the Justices, used to make a
direct importation every year, and sip it as they con-
sulted over the cases before them every day after din-
ner, when the cloth had been removed. Some rare old
specimens of this wine
can still be found in
Washington wine-cel-
lars.
At the evening par-
ties the carpet was
lifted from the room '
set apart for dancing,
and to protect the dan-
cers from slipping the
floor was chalked,
usually in colors. The
music was almost in-
variably a first and sec-
ond violin, with flute
and harp accompani-
ments. Light refresh-
ments, such as water-ices, lemonade, negus, and small
cakes were handed about on waiters between every
two or three dances. The crowning glory of the
entertainment, however, was the supper, prepared un-
der the supervision of the hostess, aided by some of
her intimate friends, who also loaned their china and
silverware. The table was covered with a la mode
beef, cold roast turkey, duck, and chicken, fried and
stewed oysters, blanc-mange, jellies, whips, floating
islands, candied oranges, and numerous varieties of
MRS. EX-PRESIDENT MADISON.
A New Sensation.
223
tarts and cakes. Very often the older men would
linger after the ladies had departed, and even reassem-
ble with the host, and discuss the wines ad libitum, if
not ad nauseam, while the young men, after having
escorted the ladies to their respective homes, would
meet again at some oyster-house to go out on a lark,
in imitation of the young English bloods in the favorite
play of Tom and Jerry.
Singing, or rather
shouting, popular
songs, they would
break windows , wrench
off knockers, call up
doctors, and transpose
sign-boards ; nor was
there a night watch-
man to interfere with
their roistering.
A decided sensation
was created at Wash-
ington during the Van
Buren Administration
by the appearance
there of a handsome
and well-educated Italian lady, who called herselt
America Vespucci, and claimed descent from the navi-
gator who gave his name to this continent. Ex-
President Adams and Daniel Webster became her
especial friends, and she was soon a welcome guest
in the best society. In a few weeks after her arrival,
she presented a petition to Congre'ss asking, first, to
be admitted to the rights of citizenship; and, secondly,
to be given "a corner of land" out of the public
domain of the country which bore the name of her
AMERICA VESPUCCI.
AFTER THE LADIES HAVE GONE.
Madame Vespuctfs Fall. 225
ancestor. An adverse report, which was soon made,
is one of the curiosities of Congressional literature.
It eulogized the petitioner as "a young, dignified,
and graceful lady, with a mind of the highest intel-
lectual culture, and a heart beating with all our own
enthusiasm in the cause of America and human
liberty." The reasons why the prayer of the peti-
tioner could not be granted were given, but she was
commended to the generosity of the American people.
" The name of America — our country's name — should
be honored, respected, and cherished in the person of
the interesting exile from whose ancestor we derive the
great and glorious title."
A subscription was immediately opened by Mr. Haight,
the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, and Judges,
Congressmen, and citizens vied with one another in
their contributions. Just then it was whispered that
Madame Vespucci had borne an unenviable reputation
at Florence and at Paris, and had been induced by a
pecuniary consideration to break off an intimacy with
the Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe's oldest son, and
come to Washington. Soon afterward the Duke's
younger brother, the Prince de Joinville, came to this
country, and refused to recognize her, which virtually
excluded her from reputable society. For some years
subsequently she resided in luxurious seclusion with a
wealthy citizen of New York, in the interior of that
State, and after his death she returned to Paris.
During the Van Buren Administration James P.
Espy came to Washington to initiate what has grown
into the Weather Signal .Service. He was a Pennsyl-
vanian by birth, and so poor in early life that when
seventeen years of age he had not been able to
learn to read.^ He subsequently mastered the English
15
226
Per le^s Reminiscences.
language and the classics, and long before he knew
why began to study the mystery of the moving clouds
and to form his storm theories. At last he asked
of Congress an appropriation of five thousand dollars
a year for five years, but he was met with jibes and
ridicule. Senator Preston, of South Carolina, said
SIGNAL SERVICE AND WEATHER BUREAU.
Espy was a madman,, too dangerous to be at large, and
the Senator would vote a special appropriation for a
prison in which to confine him. Espy was in the
Senate gallery at the time. Wounded to the quick,
he left the Capital and went to New York, where he
delivered a course of lectures with great success. They
were repeated in Boston, and he made money enough
to enable him to visit Europe.
A Weather Prophet.
227
Not long after reaching Liverpool, Jannary 6th, 1839,
a great storm occurred. He went to Lloyds', consulted
the newspapers as they arrived, noted the direction of
the wind as given at different places, and from these
data constructed the first great storm map ever pre-
pared, with the hour points marked. Bvery line and
curve and point exemplified his theory. He was at no
loss now for audiences. He appeared before the Brit-
ish Association of Sci-
entists at London, at
which Sir John Her-
schel was present, an
interested auditor. He
crossed the channel to
Paris, and the Acad-
emy of Sciences ap-
pointed a committee,
composed of the illus-
trious Arago, u to re-
port upon his observa-
tions and theory." The
effect of this report,
when it reached Wash-
ington, was not much
different from that
which followed, afterward, the announcement of Morse's
first transmitted message over the wire from Washing-
ton to Baltimore.
Aided by General Jackson and the " machinery" of
the Democratic party, engineered by Amos Kendall,
Mr. Van Buren secured for himself the re-nomination
for the Presidency. But he had great obstacles to con-
tend with. The financial condition of the country,
deranged by the absence of the controlling power of
AMOS KENDALL.
228 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
the United States Bank, grew worse and worse. There
was a total stagnation of business throughout the
Union, and from every section came tidings of embar-
rassment, bankruptcy, and ruin. There were no avail-
able funds for the purchase of Western produce and its
transportation to the Atlantic markets, so it remained
in the hands of the farmers, who could not dispose of it
except at a great sacrifice. In Ohio, for example, pork
was sold at three dollars a hundred pounds, and wheat
at fifty cents per bushel, while the price of agricultural
labor was but thirty-seven and a-half cents a day.
The campaign was carried on with great bitterness
in Congress, where the leading Whigs cordially united
in a decisive warfare on the Democrats. General Har-
rison was eulogized as a second Cincinnatus — plowman,
citizen, and general — and the sneering remark that he
resided in a log-cabin was adopted as a partisan watch-
word. The most notable speech was by Mr. Ogle, of
Pennsylvania, who elaborately reviewed the expensive
furniture, china, and glassware which had been im-
ported for the White House by order of President Van
Buren. He dwelt on the gorgeous splendor of the
damask window curtains, the dazzling magnificence of
the large mirrors, chandeliers, and candelabra ; the
centre-tables, with their tops of Italian marble ; the
satin-covered chairs, tabourets, and divans ; the impe-
rial carpets and rugs, and, above all, the service of
•silver, including a set of what he called gold spoons,
although they were of silver-gilt. These costly deco-
rations of the White House were described in detail,
with many humorous comments, and then contrasted
with the log-cabins of the West, where the only orna-
mentation, generally speaking, was a string of speckled
birds'-eggs festooned about a looking-glass measuring
Ogle versus Van Buren. 229
eight by ten inches, and a fringed window curtain of
white cotton cloth.
Having described the furniture and the table service
of the White House, as purchased by direction of the
President, Mr. Ogle proceeded to sketch Van Buren's
New Year's receptions. "Instead," said he, "of weekly
receptions, when all the people were at liberty to par-
take of the good cheer of the President's house, there
had been substituted one cold, stiff, formal, and cere-
monious assembly on the first day of every year. At
this annual levee, notwithstanding its pomp and pa-
geantry, no expense whatever is incurred by the Presi-
dent personally. No fruits, cake, wine, coffee, hard
cider, or other refreshments of any kind are tendered
to his guests. Indeed, it would militate against all the
rules of court etiquette, now established at the palace,
to permit vulgar eating and drinking on this grand
gala day. The Marine Band, however, is always
ordered from the Navy Yard and stationed in the
spacious front hall, from whence they swell the rich
saloons of the palace with ' Hail to the Chief!' ' Wha'll
be King but Charley?' and other humdrum airs, which
ravish with delight the ears of warriors who have never
smelt powder. As the people's cash, and not his own,
pays for all the services of the Marine Band, its em-
ployment at the palace does not conflict with the pecu-
liar views of the President in regard to the obvious
difference between public and private economy.
" At these ' annual State levees,' the great doors of
the ' East Room,' ' Blue Elliptical Saloon,' ' Green
Drawing Room,' and ' Yellow Drawing Room ' are
thrown open at twelve o'clock ' precisely ' to the
anxious feet of gayly appareled noblemen, honorable
men, gentlemen, and ladies of all the nations and king-
230
Perley*s Reminiscences.
doms of the earth, many of whom appear ambitiously
intent upon securing an early recognition from the
head of the mansion. The President, at the ' same in-
stant of time,' assumes his station about four feet
within the ' Blue Elliptical Saloon,' and facing the door
which looks out upon the spacious front hall, but is
separated from it, as before remarked, by a screen of
Ionic columns. He is supported on the right and left
THE BLUE ROOM.
by the Marshal of the District of Columbia and by one
of the high officers of the Government. The Marine
Band having been assigned their position at the eastern
end of the hall, with all their fine instruments in full
tune, ' at the same identical moment ' strike up one of
our most admired * national airs ;' and forthwith a cur-
rent of life flows in at the wide-spread outer door of the
palace, and glides with the smoothness of music
through the spacious hall by the Ionic screen into the
royal presence. Here (to drop for a moment my liquid
That Smile Eternal. 231
figure) eacli and every individual is presented and re-
ceived with a gentle shake of the hand, and is greeted
with that ' smile eternal ' which plays over the soft fea-
tures of Mr. Van Buren, save when he calls to mind
how confoundedly ' Old Tip ' chased, caught, and licked
Proctor and Tecurnseh. Immediately after the intro-
duction or recognition the current sets toward the
' East Room,' and thus this stream of living men and
women continues to flow and flow and flow, for about
the space of three hours — the ' Democratic President '
being the only orb around which all this pomp, pride,
and parade revolve. To him all these' lesser planets
turn, ' as the sunflower turns ' to the sun, and feel their
colors brightened when a ray of favor or a ' royal smile '
falls upon them."
WILLIAM LEARNED MARCY was born at Sturbridge, Massa husetts, December i2th, 1786; was
United States Senator from New York from December 5th, 1831, to July, 1832, when he resigned ;
was Governor of the State of New York, 1833-1839; was Secretary of War under President Polk,
March sth, 1845, to March 3d, 1843 ; was Secretary of State under President Pierce, March 7th.
1853, to March 4th, 1857, and died at Ballaton Spa, New York, July 4th, 1857.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER CAMPAIGN.
THE HARRISON CAMPAIGN — POLITICAL SONGS — WHIG CONVENTIONS —
GREAT PARADES— CORWIN'S REPLY TO CRARY — CRARY'S COMPLETE
DISCOMFITURE — THE CAMPAIGN PAPER — HORACE GREELEY — HENRY
CLAY ON THE STUMP — AMOS KENDALL— THE FALL ELECTIONS — PIPE-
LAYING— THE WHIGS TRIUMPHANT.
THE Presidential campaign of 1840 surpassed in
excitement and intensity of feeling all which
had preceded it, and in these respects it has
not since been equaled. It having been sneeringly re-
marked by a Democratic writer that General Harrison
lived in a log cabin and had better remain there, the
Whigs adopted the log cabin as one of their emblems.
Log cabins were raised everywhere for Whig headquar-
ters, some of them of large size, and almost every
voting precinct had its Tippecanoe Club with its chor-
isters.
For the first time in our land the power of song was
invoked to aid a Presidential candidate, and immense
editions of log cabin song-books were sold. Many of
these songs were parodies on familiar ballads. One of
the best compositions, the authorship of which was as-
cribed to George P. Morris, the editor of the New York
Mirror, was a parody on the Old Oaken Bucket. The
first verse ran :
232
Electioneering Extraordinary. 233
" Oh ! dear to my soul are the days of our glory,
The time-honored days of our national pride ;
When heroes and statesmen ennobled our story,
And boldly the foes of our country defied :
When victory hung o'er our flag, proudly waving,
And the battle was fought by the valiant and true
For our homes and our loved ones, the enemies braving,
Oh ! then stood the soldier of Tippecanoe —
The iron -armed soldier, the true-hearted soldier
The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe. ' '
Mass conventions were held by the Whigs in the
TIPPECANOE LOG CABIN.
(From a Campaign Engraving.)
larger cities and in the central towns at the great West.
They were attended by thousands, who came from the
plow, the forge, the counter, and the desk, at a sacrifice
of personal convenience and often at considerable ex-
pense, to give a hearty utterance to their deep-felt
opposition to the party in power. Delegations to these
conventions would often ride in carriages or on horse-
back twenty-five or thirty miles, camping out during
the excursion. They carried banners, and often had a
234 Per ley's Reminiscences.
small log cabin mounted on wheels, in which was a
barrel of hard cider, the beverage of the campaign.
On the day of the convention, and before the speaking,
there was always a procession, in which the delegations
sang and cheered as they marched along, sometimes
rolling balls on which were the names of the States,
while the music of numerous bands aided in imparting
enthusiasm.
The speaking was from a platform, over which floated
the national flag, and on which were seated the invited
guests, the local political magnates, the clergymen of
A TIPPECANOE PROCESSION.
the place, and generally a few Revolutionary soldiers,
who were greeted with loud applause. The principal
orators during the campaign were Henry Clay, Daniel
Webster, William C. Preston, Henry A. Wise, Thomas
Corwin, Thomas Bwing, Richard W. Thompson, and
scores of less noted names. General Harrison took
the stump himself at several of the Western gather-
ings, and spoke for over an hour on each occasion.
His demeanor was that of a well-bred, well-educated,
venerable Virginia gentleman, destitute of humor and
fond of quoting from classic authors.
The favorite campaign document, of which hundreds
Corwin versus Crary. 235
of thousands were circulated through the mails under
the franks of the Whig Congressmen, was the reply in
the House of Representatives by Thomas Corwin, of
Ohio, to an attack upon Harrison's military record
made by Mr. Isaac E. Crary. A native of Connecticut,
Mr. Crary had migrated to Michigan, and was the first
and the only Representative from that recently admit-
ted State. Anxious to distinguish himself, he under-
took to criticise the military career of General Harri-
son with great unfairness and partisan vigor. Mr.
Corwin replied the next day in one of the most wonder-
ful speeches ever delivered at Washington. For vigor-
ous argument and genuine wit the speech has rarely
been equaled. Those who heard it agree that his de-
fense of Harrison was overwhelming and the annihila-
tion of Crary complete. The House was convulsed
with laughter at the richness and originality of the
humor, and at times almost awed by the great dignity
and profound arguments of the orator. The pages of
history were ransacked for illustrations to sustain the
speaker, and all were poured in rapid profusion upon
the head of poor Crary, who sat amazed and stupefied
at the storm he had provoked. As Corwin proceeded
the members left their seats and clustered thickly
about him, the reporters laid down their pens, the pre-
siding officer his gavel, and everybody gave themselves
up to the enjoyment of the hour. As Mr. Corwin
painted in mock heroic style the knowledge of mili-
tary affairs which the lawyer member from Michigan
had acquired from reading TidcTs Practice and Espin-
asse^s Nisi Prius, studies so happily adapted to the art
of war, the House fairly roared with delight.
He drew a mirth-provoking picture of Crary in his
capacity of a militia brigadier at the head of his legion
236
Parley's Reminiscences.
on parade day, with his " crop-eared, bushy-tailed mare
and sickle hams — the steed that laughs at the shaking
of the spear, and whose neck was clothed with thunder,"
and likened Crary to Alexander the Great with his
war-horse, Bucephalus, at the head of his Macedonian
phalanx.
He traced all the characteristic exploits of the as-
sembled throng on those old-time mustering occasions.
The wretched diversity in height and build of the
GENERAL CRARY MARSHALING HIS HOSTS.
marshaled hosts ; the wild assortment of accoutrements,
from the ancient battle-ax to the modern broom-stick ;
the trooping boys, the slovenly girls, the mock enthu-
siasm of the spectators, all were painted with a master's
hand. Finally, after reciting Crary 's deeds of valor
and labor during the training day, Corwin left him
and his exhausted troop at a corner grocery assuaging
the fires of their souls with copious draughts of whisky
drank from the shells of slaughtered watermelons.
When Mr. Corwin came to give the history of General
Greeley^s Venture.
237
I A I
Harrison and defend his military record, lie rose to the
height of pure eloquence, and spoke with convincing
force and unanswerable logic. The fate of Crary was
sealed. Probably no such personal discomfiture was
ever known from the effect of a single speech. He
never recovered from the blow, and was known at
home and abroad as " the late General Crary." Bveu at
home the farmers and the boys, in watermelon season,
would always offer
him the fruit with sly
jests and jeers and a
joke at his military ca-
reer ; but his public
life and usefulness
were at an end.
In May, 1840, there
was received at Wash-
ington the initial num-
ber of the The Log
Cabin, a campaign
paper published at
New York by Horace
Greeley. It was print-
ed at the office of the
New Yorker, then ed-
ited by Mr. Greeley, on a thin super-royal sheet, and the
price for twenty-eight weekly issues was fifty- cents for
a single copy — larger numbers much less. It contained
a few illustrations bearing on the election, plans of
General Harrison's battle-grounds, and campaign songs
set to music.
Mr. Greeley's paper was recommended to leading
Whigs at Washington by Thurlow Weed, and he ob-
tained eighty thousand subscribers, the Whig Con-
HARD CIDER TRIUMPHANT.
238
Perley*s Reminiscences.
gressmen recommending the paper to their constituents.
The Log Cabin was the foundation of the Tribune, and
thenceforth until his death Mr. Greeley was well
known at the National Capital. He was a man of
intense convictions and indomitable industry, and he
wielded an incisive, ready pen, which went straight to
the point without circumlocution or needless use of
words. Although he was a somewhat erratic champion
of Fourierism, vegeta-
rianism, temperance,
anti-hanging, and abo-
lition, there was a
" method in his mad-
ness," and his hereti-
cal views were evi-
dently the honest con-
victions of his heart.
Often egotistical, dog-
matic, and personal,
no one could question
his uprightness and
thorough devotion to
the noblest principles
of progressive civiliza-
tion. Inspired by that
true philanthropy that loves all mankind equally and
every one of his neighbors better than himself, he was
often victimized by those whose stories he believed
and to whom he loaned his hard-earned savings. The
breath of slander did not sully his reputation, and
he never engaged in lobbying at Washington for
money, although friendship several times prompted
him to advocate appropriations for questional jobs
— the renewal of patents which were monopolies, and
HORACE GREELEY.
Hot Work. 239
the election of Public Printers who were notoriously
corrupt.
Mr. Clay " sulked in his tent " until August, when
he went to Nashville and addressed a Whig Conven-
tion. " Look," said he, in conclusion, " at the position
of Tennessee and Kentucky. They stood side by side,
their sons fought side by side, at New Orleans. Ken-
tuckians and Tennesseeans now fight another and a
different kind of battle. But they are fighting now,
as then, a band of mercenaries, the cohorts of power.
They are fighting a band of office-holders, who call
General Harrison a coward, an imbecile, an old
woman !
" Yes, General Harrison is called a coward, but he
fought more battles than any other General during the
last war and never sustained a defeat. He is no states-
man, and yet he has filled more civil offices of trust and
importance than almost any other man in the Union."
A man in the crowd here cried out, " Tell us of Van
Buren's battles !"
" Ah !" said Mr. Clay, " I will have to use my col-
league's language and tell you of Mr. Van Buren's
' three great battles !' He says, that he fought General
Commerce and conquered him ; that he fought General
Currency and conquered him, and that, with his Cuban
allies, he fought the Seminoles and got conquered!"
Mr. Kendall came to the aid of President Van Buren,
and resigned the office of Postmaster-General that he
might sustain the Administration with his powerful pen.
He thus brought upon himself much malignant abuse,
but in the many newspaper controversies in which he
was engaged he never failed to vindicate himself and
overwhelm his assailant with a clearness and vigor of
argument and a power of style with which few pens
240
Perlev's Reminiscences.
could cope. He was not only assailed with the rudest
violence of newspaper denunciation, but he was alluded
to by Whig speakers in scornful terms, while carica-
turists represented him as the Mephistopheles of the
Van Buren Administration, and Log Cabin Clubs roared
offensive campaign songs at midnight before his house,
terrifying his children by the discharges of a small can-
non. Defeat stared him in the face, but he never
quailed, but faced the
storm of attack in every
direction, and zealously
defended the Democratic
banner.
The Whigs of Maine
led off by electing Ed-
ward Kent Governor, and
five of her eight Con-
gressmen, including Wil-
liam Pitt Fessenden and
Elisha H. Alien, who af-
terward, when Minister
from the Sandwich Is-
lands to the United
States, fell dead at a New
Year's reception at the White House. Delaware, Mary-
land, and Georgia soon afterward followed suit, electing
Whig Congressmen and State officers. In October
the Ohio Whigs elected Thomas Corwin Governor, by
a majority of nearly twenty thousand over Wilson
Shannon, and it was evident that the triumphant elec-
tion of Harrison and Tyler was inevitable. In New
York William H. Seward was re-elected Governor, but
he ran over seven thousand votes behind General Har-
rison, owing to certain local issues.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
Pipe- Lay ing. 241
For some months b3fore the election the Democrats
mysteriously intimated that at the last moment some
powerful engine was to be put into operation against
the Whig cause. Mr. Van Buren himself was reported
as having assured an intimate friend, who condoled
with him on his gloomy prospects, that he " had a card
to play yet which neither party dreamed of." The
Attorney-General and the District Attorneys of New
York and Philadelphia were as mysterious as Delphic
oracles, while other Federal officers in those cities were
profound and significant in their head-shakings and
winks in reference to disclosures which were to be made
just before the Presidential election, and which were to
blow the Whigs ': sky-high."
At last the magazine was exploded with due regard
to dramatic effect. Carefully prepared statements, sup-
ported by affidavits, were simultaneously published in
different parts of the country, showing that a man
named Glentworth had been employed by some leading
New York Whigs in 1838 to procure illegal votes from
Philadelphia. The men were ostensibly engaged in
laying pipe for the introduction of Croton water.
Messrs. Griimell, Blatchford, Wetmore, Draper, and
other leading New York Whigs implicated promptly
published affidavits denying that they had ever
employed Glentworth to supply New York with Whig
voters from Philadelphia. It was proven, however, that
he had received money and had taken some thirty
Philadelphians to New York the day before the election.
There was no evidence, however, that more than one oi
them had voted, and the only effect of the disclosure
was to add the word " pipe-laying " to the political
vocabulary.
The Whigs fought the battle to the end with confi-
16
242 Perley^s Reminiscences.
dence of success, and displayed an enthusiasm and har-
mony never witnessed in this country before or since.
Commencing with the harmonious selection of General
Harrison as their candidate, they enlisted Clay and
Webster, his defeated rivals, in his support, and, having
taken the lead, they kept it right through, really defeat-
ing the Democrats in advance of the campaign. The
South were not satisfied with Mr. Van Buren's attitude
on the admission of Texas, which stood knocking for
admission at the door of the Union, and " the Northern
man with Southern principles " was not the recipient of
many Southern votes :
" Then hurrah for the field where the bald eagle flew,
In pride o'er the hero of Tippecanoe !"
THOMAS CORWIN was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, July agth, 1794; was a Representative
in Congress from Ohio from December sth, 1831,10 1840, when he resigned and was elected Governor
of Ohio ; was defeated for Governor of Ohio in 1842 ; was a Senator from Ohio from December ist,
1845, to July 2zd, 1850, when he resigned, having been appointed Secretary of the Treasury by Pres-
ident Taylor, and served until March ^d, 1853; was again a Representative in Congress from Ohio,
December sth, 1859, to March sd, 1861 ; was Minister to Mexico, March azd, 1861, to September ist,
1864 ; died suddenly at Washington City, December i8th, 1865.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ENTER WHIGS — EXIT DEMOCRATS.
THE FOURTEENTH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION — ENTER HARRISON — EXIT
VAN BUREN— HARRISON'S CABINET — ATTACK UPON MR. WEBSTER—
" THE SALT BOILER OF THE KANAWHA" — OTHER CABINET OFFICERS-
HARRISON'S INAUGURAL MESSAGE — THE INAUGURATION — THE" PRO-
CESSION—SCENES AT THE CAPITOL— THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS —
PRESIDENT HARRISON'S FIRST RECEPTION— INAUGURATION BALLS.
IN 1840 many of the States voted for Presidential
electors on different days, which rendered the
contest more exciting as it approached its close.
There was no telegraphic communication, and there
were but few lines of railroad, so that it was some time
after a large State had voted before its complete and
correct returns could be received. At last all the back
townships had been heard from and the exultant Whigs
were certain that they had elected their candidates by a
popular majority of over one hundred thousand !
Twenty States had given Harrison and Tyler two
hundred and thirty-four electoral votes, while Van
Buren and Johnson had received but sixty electoral
votes in six States. The log cabins were the scenes of
great rejoicing over this unparalleled political victory,
and the jubilant Whigs sang louder than before :
"Van, Van, Van is a used-up man."
General William Henry Harrison was by birth and
education a Virginian. His father, Benjamin Harri-
243
244
Per ley's Reminiscences.
son, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was
the largest man in the old Congress of the Confedera-
tion, and when John Hancock was elected President of
that body Harrison seized him and bore him in his
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
arms to the chair. On reaching manhood William
Henry Harrison migrated to Ohio, then the far West,
and for forty years was prominently identified with the
interests, the perils, and the hopes of that region.
Universally beloved in the walks of peace, and some-
Harrison? s Arrival at Washington.
245
what distinguished by the ability with which he had
discharged the duties of a succession of offices which he.
had filled, yet he won his greatest renown in military
service. But he had never abjured the political doc-
trines of the Old Dominion, and his published letters,
and speeches during the Presidential campaign which
resulted in his election showed that he was a believer
in what the Virginians called a strict construction of
financial questions, internal improvements, the veto
power, and the protection of negro slavery. His intel-
CITY HALL, WASHINGTON.
lect was enriched with classical reminiscences, which
he was fond of quoting in writing or in conversation.
When he left his residence on the bank of the Ohio
for the seat of Government he compared his progress
to the return of Cicero to Rome, congratulated and-
cheered as he passed on by the victorious Cato and his
admiring countrymen.
On General Harrison's arrival at Washington, on a
stormy afternoon in February, 1841, he walked from
the railroad station (then on Pennsylvania Avenue) ,
to the City Hall. He was a tall, thin, careworn oM
246
Perley^s Reminiscences.
gentleman, with, a martial bearing, carrying his hat in
his hand, and bowing his acknowledgments for the
cheers with which he was greeted by the citizens who
lined the sidewalks. On reaching the City Hall the
President-elect was formally addressed by the Mayor,
Colonel W. W. Seaton, of the National Intelligencer,
who supplemented his panegyric by a complimentary
editorial article in his newspaper of the next morning.
ASHLAND.
Before coming East General Harrison visited Henry
Clay, at Ashland, and tendered him the position of
Secretary of State, which Mr. Clay promptly de-
clined, saying that he had fully determined not to hold,
office under the new Administration, although he in-
tended cordially to support it. General Harrison
thanked Mr. Clay for his frankness, expressing deep
regret that he could not accept the portfolio of the De-
partment of State. He further said that if Mr. Clay
Forming a Cabinet. 247
had accepted this position it was his intention to offer
the portfolio of the Treasury Department to Mr. Web-
ster ; but since Mr. Clay had declined a seat in the
Cabinet, he should not offer one to Mr. Webster.
Mr. Clay objected to this conclusion, and remarked
that while Mr. Webster was not peculiarly fitted for
the control of the national finances, he was eminently
qualified for the management of the foreign relations.
Besides, the appointment of Mr. Webster as Secretary
of State would inspire confidence in the Administration
abroad, which would be highly important, considering
the existing critical relations with Great Britain. Gen-
eral Harrison accepted the suggestion, and on his return
to North Bend wrote to Mr. Webster, offering him the
Department of State and asking his advice concerning
the other members of the Cabinet. The " solid men of
Boston," who had begun to entertain grave apprehen-
sions of hostilities with Great Britain, urged Mr. Web-
ster to accept, and pledged themselves to contribute
liberally to his support.
No sooner was it intimated that Mr. Webster was to
be the Premier of the incoming Administration than the
Calhoun wing of the Democratic party denounced him
as having countenanced the abolition of slavery, and
when his letter resigning his seat in the Senate was
read in that body, Senator Cuthbert, of Georgia,
attacked him. The Georgian's declamation was deliv-
ered with clenched fist ; he pounded his desk, gritted
his teeth, and used profane language. Messrs. Clay,
Preston, and other Senators defended Mr. Webster from
the attack of the irate Georgian, and his friends had
printed at Washington a large edition of a speech
which he had made a few months before on the portico
of the Capitol at Richmond before a vast assemblage.
248
Per ley's Reminiscences.
" Beneath the light of an October sun, I say," he then
declared, " there is no power, directly or indirectly, in
Congress or the General Government, to interfere in
the slightest degree with the institutions of the South."
General Harrison, to quiet the cry of "Abolitionist,"
which had been raised against him as well as Mr.
Webster, made a visit to Richmond prior to his inaugu-
ration, during which he availed himself of every pos-
ROCK CREEK.
sible occasion to assert his devotion to the rights,
privileges, and prejudices of the South concerning the
existence of slavery. On his return he took a daily
ride on the picturesque banks of Rock Creek, rehears-
ing portions of his inaugural address.
The portfolio of the Treasury Department was given
to Thomas Kwing, of Ohio (familiarly known from his
early avocation as " the Salt Boiler of the Kanawha "),
who was physically and intellectually a great man. He
The New Secretaries. 249
was of medium height, very portly, his ruddy complex-
ion setting off his bright, laughing eyes to the best
advantage. On " the stump " he had but few equals,
as in simple language and without apparent oratorical
effort he breathed his own spirit into vast audiences,
and swayed them with resistless power. He resided in
a house built by Count de Menou, one of the French
Legation, and his daughter Hllen, now the wife of Gen-
eral Sherman, attended school at the academy attached
to the Convent of the Sisters of the Visitation, in
Georgetown.
The coming Secretary of War was John Bell, of Ten-
nessee, a courtly Jackson Democrat in years past, who
had preferred to support Hugh L. White rather than
Martin Van Buren, and had thus drifted into the Whig
ranks. He had served as a Representative in Con-
gress since 1827, officiating during one term as
Speaker, and he was personally very popular.
For Secretary of the Navy George E. Badger, of
North Carolina, was selected. He had been graduated
from Yale College, but had never held other than local
offices. His sailor-like figure and facetious physiog-
nomy were very appropriate for the position, and he
soon became a decided favorite at the Washington
" messes," where he was always ready to contribute
freely from his fund of anecdotes.
Francis Granger, of New York, who was to be Post-
master-General, was also a graduate of Yale College.
He had been a member of the New York State Legis-
lature and of Congress, and the unsuccessful Whig
candidate for Vice-President in 1836. He was a genial,
rosy-faced gentleman, whose " silver gray " hair after-
ward gave its name to the party in New York which
recognized him as its leader.
250 Perley>s Reminiscences.
The Attorney-General was J. J. Crittenden, a Ken-
tuckian, whose intellectual vigor, integrity of character,
and legal ability had secured for him a nomination to
the bench of the Supreme Court by President Adams,
which, however, the Democratic Senate failed to confirm.
Kept in the shade by Henry Clay, he became somewhat
crabbed, but his was one of the noblest intellects of his
generation. His persuasive eloquence, his sound judg-
ment, his knowledge of the law, his lucid manner of
stating facts, and his complete grasp of every case
which he examined had made him a power in the
Senate and in the Supreme Court, as he was destined
to be in the Cabinet.
The inaugural message had been prepared by Gen-
eral Harrison in Ohio, and he brought it with him to
Washington, written in his large hand on one side of
sheets of foolscap paper. When it was submitted to
Mr. Webster, he respectfully suggested the propriety of
abridging it, and of striking from it some of the many
classical allusions and quotations with which it
abounded. He found, however, that General Harrison
was not disposed to receive advice, and that he was re-
luctant to part with any evidence of his classic scholar-
ship. Colonel Seaton used to relate with great gusto
how Mr. Webster once came late to a dinner party at
his house, and said, as he entered the dining-room,
when the soup was being served : " Excuse my tardi-
ness, but I have been able to dispose of two Roman
Emperors and a pro-Consul, which should be a suffi-
cient excuse."
General Harrison was inaugurated on Thursday,
March 4th, 1841. The city had filled up during the
preceding night, and the roar of the morning salutes
was echoed by the bands of the military as they
To the Inauguration. 251
marched to take their designated places. The sun was
obscured, but the weather was mild, and the streets
were perfectly dry. At ten o'clock a procession was
formed, which escorted the President-elect from his tem-
porary residence, by way of Pennsylvania Avenue, to
the Capitol. No regular troops were on parade, but the
uniformed militia of the District of Columbia, rein-
forced by others from Philadelphia and Baltimore, per-
formed escort duty in a very creditable manner. A
carriage presented by the Whigs of Baltimore, and
drawn by four horses, had been provided for the Presi-
dent-elect, but he preferred to ride on horseback, as the
Roman Emperors were wont to pass along the Appian
Way. The old hero made a fine appearance, mounted,
as he was, on a spirited white charger. At his right,
slightly in the rear, rode Major Hurst, who had been
his aid-de-camp at the Battle of the Thames ; at his left,
in a similar position, rode Colonel Todd, another aid-
de-camp at the same battle. An escort of assistant
marshals, finely mounted, followed. Although the
weather was chilly, the General refused to wear an
overcoat, and he rode with his hat in his hand, grace-
fully bowing acknowledgments of cheers from the mul-
titudes on the sidewalks, and of the waving of white
handkerchiefs by ladies at the windows on either side.
Behind the President-elect came Tippecanoe Clubs
and other political associations, with music, banners,
and badges. The Club from Prince George County,
Maryland, had in its ranks a large platform on wheels,
drawn by six white horses, on which was a power-loom
from the Laurel Factory, with operatives at work. Sev-
eral of the clubs drew large log cabins on wheels,
decked with suitable inscriptions, cider-barrels, 'coon-
skins, and other frontier articles. A feature of the
252
Perley's Reminiscences.
procession was the students of the Jesuits' College at
Georgetown, who appeared in uniform, headed by their
faculty, and carrying a beautiful banner.
An immense crowd had gathered at the Capitol, and
at ten o'clock ladies who had tickets were admitted into
the gallery of the Senate Chamber, and were provided
with comfortable seats. The east door leading to the
Senate gallery was soon opened, when at least five
thousand persons rushed to that point. Less than a
thousand were enabled to reach the seats provided.
Soon after the galleries were filled, the foreign Ambas-
sadors, wearing the court dresses and insignia, were in-
troduced on the floo'r. The members of the Senate
Harrisons Inaugural Address. 253
took theii seats, after which the Senate was called to
order by the Clerk, and Senator King was chosen Presi-
dent/w tern. The newly elected Senators were sworn.
Vice-President Tyler, of Virginia, entered arm-in-arm
with ex-Vice-President Johnson, and after the oath of
office had been administered to him he took the chair
and called the Senate to order.
The President-elect was then ushered into the Senate
Chamber by the Committee, of which Mr. Preston was
chairman. The Judges of the Supreme Court, wearing
their black silk robes, had taken their seats in front,
below the Speaker's chair. The President-elect shook
hands cordially with a number of the Senators and
Judges, and appeared much younger than many who
were his juniors in years.
At half-past twelve o'clock the signal was given, and
the officers in the Senate Chamber formed in procession
and proceeded to the eastern front of the Capitol, where
there was a platform some fifteen feet high and large
enough to accommodate an immense crowd. The Presi-
dent-elect took his seat in front, Chief Justice Taney
and his associates by his side, the Senators and Ambas-
sadors on the left, and the ladies at the sides. The
large area below was filled with an immense multtiude
of probably not less than from forty to fifty thousand
persons. General Harrison, as " the observed of all
observers," was greeted with prolonged cheers when
he rose to deliver his address. When the uproar had
subsided he advanced to the front of the platform, and
there was profound stillness as he read, in a loud and
clear voice, his inaugural address. He stood bare-
headed, without overcoat or gloves, facing the cold
northeast wind, while those seated on the platform
around him, although warmly wrapped, suffered from
254 Perley^s Reminiscences.
the piercing blasts. All were astonished at the power
and compass of his voice. He spoke until two p. M. —
one and a half hours — with a clearness that was truly
surprising. So distinctly were his words heard that he
was cheered at the closing of every sentiment, particu-
larly where he said that he would carry out the pledge
that he had made, that under no circumstances would
he run for another term. Just before the close of the
inaugural he turned to Chief Justice Taney, who held
the Bible, and in a clear and distinct voice repeated the
oath required. It was a singular fact that when the
President took the oath this multitude of spectators
before him spontaneously uncovered their heads, while
the pealing cannon announced to the country that it
had a new Chief Magistrate. As soon as the ceremony
was over the immense concourse turned their faces
from the Capitol, and filed down the various walks to
Pennsylvania Avenue. The procession formed anew
and marched to the White House, cheered as it passed
by the waiting crowds.
Entering the White House, President Harrison took
his station in the reception-room, and the multitude
entered the front portal, passed through the vestibule
into the reception-room, where they had an opportunity
to shake hands with the President, then passed down
the rear steps and out through the garden. At
night there were three inauguration balls, the prices of
admission suiting different pockets. At one, where the
tickets were ten dollars for gentlemen, the ladies being
invited guests, there was a representation from almost
every State in the Union. President Harrison, not-
withstanding the fatigues of the day, remained over an
hour, and was attended by several members of his
Cabinet. Mr. Webster was in excellent spirits, and
A New Administration.
255
chatted familiarly with Mr. Clay at the punch-bowl,
where libations were drank to the success of the new
Administration.
Thus the new Administration was inaugurated. The
Democrats surrendered the power which they had so
despotically wielded for twelve years, and their oppo-
nents, consolidated under the Whig banner, took the
reins of government. Passing over Webster and Clay,
their recognized leaders, they had elected Harrison as
a more available candidate, he having been a gallant
soldier and having but few enemies. For Vice-Presi-
dent they had elected John Tyler, for the sole reason
that his Democratic affiliations would secure the elec-
toral vote of Virginia.
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON was born In Charles County, Virginia, February gth, 1773 ; was Dele-
gate in Congress from the Northwest Territory, December ad, 1790, to March, 1800; was Governor
of Indiana, 1801-1813 '• was a Representative In Congress from Ohio, December 2d, 1816, to March
3d, 1819; was United States Senator, December 51)1, 1825, to May aoth, 1828; was Minister to Col-
ombia, May 24th, 1828, to September r6th, 1829 ; became President of the United States, March
4th, 1841, and died at Washington City, April 4th, 1841.
CHAPTER XIX.
HARRISON'S ONE MONTH OF POWER.
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM — DIFFERENCES OF OPINION — DIFFICULTY BE-
TWEEN CLAY AND KING — WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENTS — VERBA-
TIM REPORTS OF DEBATES— A POPULAR BRITISH MINISTER— OTHER
FOREIGN DIPLOMATS — QUARRELSOME CAROLINIANS— DANIEL WEB-
STER'S HOUSEKEEPING— ILLNESS OF PRESIDENT HARRISON— DEATH —
FUNERAL — THE LAST HONORS.
GOVERNMENT officials at Washington, nearly
all of whom had received their positions as
rewards for political services, and many of
whom had displaced worthy men whose only fault was
that they belonged to a different party, were somewhat
encouraged by the declarations of President Harrison
touching the position of office-holders. It was known
from a speech of his at Baltimore, prior to his inaugu-
ration, that he intended to protect the right of indi-
vidual opinion from official interference, and in a few
days after he became President his celebrated civil-
service circular was issued by Daniel Webster, as
Secretary of State. It was addressed to the heads of
the Executive Departments, and it commenced thus :
" SIR: — The President is of opinion that it is a great
abuse to bring the patronage of the General Govern-
ment into conflict with the freedom of elections ; and
that this abuse ought to be corrected wherever it may
have been permitted to exist, and to be prevented foi
the future."
256
Union for the Spoils.
257
It would have been fortunate for the country if these
views of President Harrison, so clearly stated by
Daniel Webster in this circular, could have been hon-
estly carried out ; but the horde of hungry politicians
that had congregated at Washington, with racoon-tails
in their hats and packages of recommendations in their
pockets, clamored for the wholesale action of the politi-
cal guillotine, that
they might fill the
vacancies thereby
created. Whigs
and Federalists,
National Repub-
licans and strict
const ructionists,
bank and anti-
bank men had
coalesced under
the motto of
" Union of the
Whigs for the
sake of the
Union," but they
had really united
"for the sake of
office." The Ad-
ministration found itself forced to make removals that
places might be found for this hungry horde, and to
disregard its high position on civil service. Virginia
was especially clamorous for places, and Vice-President
Tyler became the champion of hundreds who belonged
to the first families, but who were impecunious.
Direct conflict soon arose between the President ancv
his Cabinet, he asserting his right to make appoint
JOHN J. CRITTENDEN.
258 Perlefs Reminiscences.
ments and removals, while they took the ground that it
was simply his duty to take such action as they chose
to dictate. The Cabinet were sustained by the opinion
of Attorney-General John J. Crittenden, and they also
under his advice claimed the right to review the Presi-
dent's nominations before they were sent to the Senate.
To the President, who had as Governor and as General
been in the habit of exercising autocratic command,
these attempts to hamper his action were very annoy-
ing, and at times he " kicked over the traces."
One day, after a rather stormy Cabinet meeting, Mr.
Webster asked the President to appoint one of his
political supporters, General James Wilson, of New
Hampshire, Governor of the Territory of Iowa. Presi-
dent Harrison replied that it would give him pleasure
to do so had he not promised the place to Colonel John
Chambers, of Kentucky, his former aid-de-camp, who
had been acting as his private secretary. The next day
Colonel Chambers had occasion to visit the Department
of State, and Mr. Webster asked him if the President
had offered to appoint him Governor of Iowa. " Yes,
sir," was the reply. " Well, sir," said Mr. Webster,
with sour sternness, a cloud gathering on his massive
brow, while his unfathomable eyes glowed with anger,
" you must not take that position, for I have promised
it to my friend, General Wilson.'' Colonel Chambers,
who had been a member of Congress, and was older
than Mr. Webster, was not intimidated, but replied,
" Mr. Webster, I shall accept the place, and I tell you,
sir, not to undertake to dragoon me !" He then left
the room, and not long afterward Mr. Webster received
from the President a peremptory order to commission
John Chambers, of Kentucky, as Governor of the Ter-
ritory of Iowa, which was complied with.
Challenges and Apologies. 259
Mr. Clay undertook to insist upon some removals,
that personal friends of his might be appointed to the
offices thus vacated, and he used such dictatorial lan-
guage that after he had left the White House President
Harrison wrote him a formal note, requesting that he
would make any further suggestions he might desire to
submit in writing. Mr. Clay was very much annoyed,
and Mr. King, of Alabama, making some remarks in
the Senate soon afterward which might be construed as
personally offensive, the great Commoner opened his
batteries upon him, saying in conclusion that the asser-
tions of the Senator from Alabama were " false, untrue,
and cowardly."
Mr. King immediately rose and left the Senate
Chamber. Mr. Levin, of Missouri, was called out, and
soon returned, bringing a note, which he handed to Mr.
Clay, who read it, and then handed it to Mr. Archer.
Messrs. Levin and Archer immediately engaged in an
earnest conversation, and it was soon known that a
challenge had passed; and they as seconds were endeav-
oring amicably to arrange the affair. After four days
of negotiation, Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, and
other Senators, acting as mediators, the affair was hon-
orably adjusted. Mr. King withdrew his challenge,
Mr. Clay declared every epithet derogatory to the honor
of the Senator from Alabama to be withdrawn, and Mr.
Preston expressed his satisfaction at the happy termi-
nation of the misunderstanding between the Senators. •
While Mr. Preston was speaking Mr. Clay rose, walked
to the opposite side of the Senate Chamber, and stop-
ping in front of the desk of the Senator from Alabama,
said, in a pleasant tone, " King, give us a pinch of your
snuff?" Mr. King, springing to his feet, held out his
hand, which was grasped by Mr. Clay and cordially
260 Perley^s Reminiscences.
shaken, the Senators and spectators applauding this
pacific demonstration.
The leading Washington correspondent at that time
was Dr. Francis Bacon, brother of the Rev. Dr. Leon-
ard Bacon, of New Haven, Connecticut. He wrote for
the New York American, then edited by Charles King,
signing his articles R. M. T. H. — Regular Member
Third House. Dr. Bacon wielded a powerful pen, and
when he chose so to do could condense a column of de-
nunciation, satire, and sarcasm into a single paragraph.
He was a fine scholar, fearless censor, and terse writer,
giving his many readers a clear idea of what was trans-
piring at the Federal metropolis.
A new-comer among the correspondents during the
Harrison Administration was Mr. Nathan Sargent,
whose correspondence to the Philadelphia United States
Gazette, over the signature of " Oliver Oldschool,"
soon became noted. His carefully written letters gave
a continuous narrative of important events as they oc-
curred, and he was one who aided in making the Whig
party, like the Federal party, which had preceded it,
eminently respectable.
Washington correspondents, up to this time, had
been the mediums through which a large portion of the
citizens of the United States obtained their information
concerning national affairs. The only reports of the
debates in Congress appeared in the Washington news-
papers often several weeks after their delivery. James
Gordon Bennett, who had then become proprietor of the
New York Herald, after publishing President Har-
rison's call for an extra session of Congress in advance
of his contemporaries, determined to have the proceed-
ings and debates reported for and promptly published
in his own columns. To superintend the reporting, he
Polishing up Reports.
261
engaged Robert Siitton, who organized a corps of pho-
nographers, which was the nucleus of the present able
body of official reporters of the debates. Button was a
DECATUR MANSION, THE BRITISH LEGATION.
short, stout, pragmatical Englishman, whose desire to
obtain extra allowances prompted him to revise, correct,
and polish up reports which should have been verbatim,
262 Perley*s Reminiscences.
and thus to take the initiative in depriving official re-
ports of debates of a large share of their value. Since
then, Senators and Representatives address their con-
stituents through the reports, instead of debating ques-
tions among themselves.
The diplomatic representative of Great Britain,
during the greater part of the Jackson Administration
was the Right Honorable Charles Richard Vaughan,
who was a great favorite among Congressmen and citi-
zens at Washington, many of whom were his guests at
the Decatur Mansion, then the British Legation. He
was a well-educated and well-informed gentleman, with
the courteous manners of the old school. When re-
called after ten years' service at Washington, he was a
jovial bachelor of fifty, fond of old Madeira wine and a
quiet rubber of whist.
A good story is told of General Roger Weightman,
when Mayor of the city, who sent by mistake an invi-
tation to Sir Charles Vaughan to attend a Fourth-of-
July dinner, at which speeches were invariably made
abusive of the British and their Vandalism in the recent
war. Sir Charles, who was a finished diplomat, might
have construed the invitation into an insult, but he
wrote a very polite response, saying that he thought he
should be " indisposed " on the Fourth of July.
Russia was then represented by the Baron de Krude-
ner, who resided in a large house built by Thomas
Swann, a wealthy Baltimorean. Amicable relations with
" our ancient ally," France, had been interrupted by
the brusque demand of General Jackson for the pay-
ment of the indemnity. Monsieur Serruvier was re-
called, leaving the Legation in charge of Alphonso
Pageot, the Secretary. He also was recalled, but after
the Jackson Administration was sent back as Charge.
Nursery Rhymes in Congress. 263
•
It was expected that the session of the Twenty-sixth
Congress, which terminated on the day of the inaugu-
ration of General Harrison, would have been followed
by a duel between Mr. Edward Stanly, of North Caro-
lina, and Mr. Francis W. Pickens, of South Carolina.
Mr. Stanley had been criticised in debate by Mr.
Pickens, and he retorted mercilessly. " The gentle-
man," said he, " compares my speech to the attempt of
a ' savage shooting at the sun.' It may be so, sir.
But the Committee will remember that in the remarks
I made I did not address myself to the gentleman who
has so unnecessarily interposed in this debate. And
why did I not, sir ? Not because I thought I should
be as powerless as- he describes me, but because I had
seen him so often so unmercifully kicked and cuffed
and knocked about, so often run over on this floor,
that I thought he was beneath my notice, and utterly
insignificant. Sir, the gentleman says he is reminded
by my speech of the ' nursery rhyme,'
' Who shot Cock Robin ?
" I," said the Sparrow,
" With my bow and arrow,
I shot Cock Robin." '
Well, sir, I am willing to be the sparrow for this cock
robin, this chivalrous gentleman ; and let me tell the
gentleman, if he will not deem me vain, I feel fully
able, with my bow and arrow, to run through a < cow-
pen full' of such cock robins as he is. In conclusion,
I have only to say, sir, to the gentleman from South
Carolina, that though my arm may be * pigmy,' though
I may be but a sparrow in the estimation of one ' born
insensible to fear,' I am able, sir, anywhere, as a spar-
row from North Carolina, to put down a dozen such
cock robins as he is. * Come one, come all,' ye South
264
Perley*s Reminiscences.
Carolina cock robins, if you dare ; I am ready for you."
Mr. Pickens wrote a challenge, but friends interposed,
and the difficulty was honorably arranged.
When Mr. Webster became Secretary of State, un-
der President Harrison, his friends in Boston and New
York raised a purse to enable him to purchase the
Swann House, facing Lafayette Square. Mr. Webster
MARSHFIELD.
preferred, however, to purchase land at Marshfield, and
after he had occupied the house during the negotiation
of the Ashburton Treaty, the property passed into the
hands of Mr. W. W. Corcoran, who has since resided
there.
Mr. Webster was his own purveyor, and was a regu-
lar attendant at the Marsh Market on market morn-
ings. He almost invariably wore a large, broad-
Webster's Hospitality 265
brimmed, soft felt hat, with his favorite blue coat and
bright buttons, a buff cassimere waistcoat, and black
trousers. Going from stall to stall, followed by a servant
bearing a large basket in which purchases were carried
home, he would joke with the butchers, fish-mongers, and
green-grocers with a grave drollery of which his biog-
raphers, in their anxiety to deify him, have made no
mention. He always liked to have a friend or two at
his dinner-table, and in inviting them, sans ceremonie,
he would say, in his deep, cheery voice, " Come and
dine with me to-morrow. I purchased a noble saddle
of Valley of Virginia mutton in market last week, and
I think you will enjoy it." Or, " I received some fine
cod-fish from Boston to-day, sir; will you dine with me
at five o'clock and taste them ?" Or, " I found a fa-
mous possum in market this morning, sir, and left
orders with Monica, my cook, to have it baked in the
real old Virginia style, with stuffing of chestnuts and
surrounded by baked sweet potatoes. It will be a dish
fit for the gods. Come and taste it."
President Harrison, who was an early riser, used to
go to market, and he invariably refused to wear an
overcoat, although the spring was cold and stormy.
One morning, having gone to the market thus thinly
attired, he was overtaken by a slight shower and got
wet, but refused to change his clothes. The following
day he felt symptoms of indisposition, which were fol-
lowed by pneumonia. At his Ohio home he had lived
plainly and enjoyed sleep, but at Washington he had,
while rising early, rarely retired before one o'clock in
the morning, and his physical powers, enfeebled by age,
had been overtaxed. At the same time, the President's
mental powers had undergone a severe strain, as was
evident when he became somewhat delirious. Some-
266 Perley^s Reminiscences.
times he would say, " My dear madam, I did not direct
that your husband should be turned out. I did not
know it. I tried to prevent it." On other occasions
he would say, in broken sentences, "It is wrong — I
won't consent — 'tis unjust." " These applications —
will they never cease !" The last time that he spoke
was about three hours before his death, when his phy-
sicians and attendants were standing over him. Clear-
ing his throat, as if desiring to speak audibly, and as
though he fancied himself addressing his successor, or
some official associate in the Government, he said: uSir,
I wish you to understand the true principles of the
Government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing
more."
" One little month " after President Harrison's in-
auguration multitudes again assembled to attend his
funeral. Minute-guns were fired during the day, flags
were displayed at half staff, and Washington was
crowded with strangers at an early hour. The build-
ings on either side of Pennsylvania Avenue, with
scarcely an exception, and many houses on the contig-
uous streets, were hung with festoons and streamers of
black. Almost every private dwelling had crape upon
its door, and many of the very humblest abodes dis-
played some spontaneous signal of the general sorrow.
The stores and places of business, even such as were
too frequently seen open on the Sabbath, were all
closed.
Funeral services were performed in the Executive
Mansion, which, for the first time, was shrouded in
mourning. The coffin rested on a temporary catafalque
in the centre of the Hast Room. It was covered with
black velvet, trimmed with gold lace, and over it was
thrown a velvet pall with a deep golden fringe. On
The Dead President.
267
this lay the sword of Justice and the sword of State,
surmounted by the scroll of the Constitution, bound
together by a funeral wreath, formed of the yew and
the cypress. Around the coffin stood in a circle the
new President, John Tyler, the venerable ex-President,
John Quincy Adams, Secretary Webster, and the other
members of the Cabinet. The next circle contained
THE NATION IN MOURNING.
the Diplomatic Corps, in their richly decorated court-
suits, with a number of members of both houses of
Congress, and the relatives of the deceased President.
Beyond this circle a vast assemblage of ladies and
gentlemen filled up the room. Silence, deep and undis-
turbed, even by a whisper, prevailed. When, at the
appointed hour, the officiating clergyman said, "I am
the resurrection and the life," the entire audience rose,
268 Perley^s Reminiscences.
and joined in the burial service of the Episcopal
Church.
After the services the coffin was carried to a large
funeral car drawn by six white horses, each having at
its head a black groom dressed in white, with white
turban and sash. Outside of the grooms walked the
pall-bearers, dressed in black, with black scarves. The
contrast made by this slowly moving body of white and
black, so opposite to the strong colors of the military
around it, struck the eye even from the greatest dis-
tance.
The funeral procession, with its military escort, was
two miles in length, and eclipsed the inauguration
pageant which had so recently preceded it. The re-
mains were escorted to the Congressional Burying-
Ground, where they were temporarily deposited in the
receiving-vault, to be taken subsequently to the banks
of the Ohio, and there placed in an unmarked and
neglected grave. The troops present all fired three
volleys in such a ludicrously straggling manner as to
recall the dying request of Robert Burns that the
awkward squad might not fire over his grave. Then
the drums and fifes struck up merry strains, the mili-
tary marched away, and only the scene of the public
bereavement remained.
THOMAS EWING was born near West Liberty, Virginia, December 28th, 1789 ; was United States
Senator from Ohio, December 5th, 1831, to March 3d, 1837; was Secretary of the Treasury under
President Harrison, March 5th, 1841, to September I3th, i84r ; was Secretary of the Interior under
PresidentTaylor, March 7th, 1849, to Ju'y 25<h» '850 ; was again Senator from Ohio, July 27th, 1850,
io March sd, 1851, and died at Lancaster, Ohio, October z6th, 1871.
CHAPTER XX.
THE KING IS DEAD — LONG LIVE THE KING.
" LE ROI EST MORT — VIVE LE ROl" — EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS —
TROUBLE IN THE WHIG CAMP — EDWARD EVERETT BEFORE THE SEN-
ATE— THURLOW WEED —DISSENSIONS AMONG THE WHIGS— CABINET
TROUBLES — CONGRESSIONAL, CRITICISMS — GUSHING AND ADAMS, OF
MASSACHUSETTS— WISE, OF VIRGINIA— BAGBY, OF ALABAMA.
JOHN TYLER, having found that his position as
Vice-President gave him no voice in the distribu-
tion of patronage, had retired in disgust to his
estate in Prince William County, Virginia, when Mr.
Fletcher Webster brought him a notification, from the
Secretary of State, to hasten to Washington to assume
the duties of President. Mr. Webster reached Rich-
mond on Sunday — the day following General Harrison's
death — chartered a steamboat, and arrived at Mr.
Tyler's residence on Monday at daybreak. Soon after-
ward, Mr. Tyler, accompanied by his two sons, left with
Mr. Webster, and arrived at Washington early Tuesday
morning.
The Cabinet had arrived at the conclusion that Mr.
Tyler should be officially styled, " Vice-President of
the United States, acting President," but he very
promptly determined that he would enjoy all of the
dignities and honors of the office which he had inher-
ited under the Constitution. Chief Justice Taney was
then absent, so Mr. Tyler summoned Chief Justice
Cranch, of the Supreme Court of the District of Col-
269
270
Per ley* s Reminiscences.
umbia, to his parlor at Brown's Indian Queen Hotel,
and took the oath of office administered to preceding
Presidents. The Cabinet officers were soon made to
understand that he was Chief Magistrate of the Repub-
lic, and the Whig magnates began to fear that their
lease of power would soon terminate. In conversation
with Mr. Nathan Sargent, a prominent Whig corres-
pondent, soon after his arrival, Mr. Tyler significantly
remarked : " If the Democrats and myself ever come
A Jolly Funeral.
271
together, they must come to me ; I shall never go to
them." This showed that he regarded his connection
with the Whigs as precarious.
The extra session of Congress, which had been con-
vened by General Harrison before his death, was not
acceptable to his successor, who saw that its legislation
would be inspired and controlled by Henry Clay.
FUNERAL OF THE SUB-TREASURY.
When the two houses were organized, he sent them a
brief message, in which the national bank question
was dexterously handled, " with the caution and ambig-
uity of a Talleyrand." Mr. Clay lost no time in pre-
senting his programme for Congressional action ; and
in a few days its first feature, the repeal of the sub-
Treasury Act, was enacted. That night a thousand or
more of the jubilant Washington Whigs marched in
272 Per ley* s Reminiscences.
procession from Capitol Hill to the White House, with
torches, music, transparencies, and fireworks, escorting
a catafalque on which was a coffin labeled, " The sub-
Treasury." As the procession moved slowly along
Pennsylvania Avenue, bonfires were kindled at the in-
tersecting streets, many houses were illuminated, and
there was general rejoicing. On the arrival of the
procession at the Executive Mansion, President Tyler
came out and made a few remarks, while Mr. Webster
and the other members of the Cabinet bowed their
thanks for the cheers given them. The hilarious crowd
of mock-mourners then repaired to the house of Mrs.
Brown, at the corner of Seventh and D Streets, where
Mr. Clay boarded, and received his grateful acknowledg-
ments for the demonstration. The next measure on
Mr. Clay's programme, the bill for the distribution of
the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the
States, was also promptly enacted and as promptly ap-
proved by the President. Next came the National
Bankrupt Act, which was stoutly opposed by the Dem-
ocrats, but it finally passed, and was approved by Mr.
Tyler.
When Congress enacted a bill creating a National
Bank, however, and sent it to the President for his
approval, he returned it with his veto. This created
much discontent among the Whigs, while the Demo-
crats were so rejoiced that a considerable number of
their Congressmen called at the Executive Mansion.
The President received them cordially, and treated
them to champagne, in which toasts were drunk not
very complimentary to the Whig party, or to its leader,
Mr. Clay. The Kentucky Senator soon saw that it
was of no use to temporize with his vacillating chief-
tain, who evidently desired to become his own sue-
Clafs Strategy. 273
cessor, so he determined to force the Administration
into a hostile attitude toward the Whigs, while he
himself should step to the front as their recognized
leader. Haughty and imperious, Mr. Clay was never-
theless so fascinating in his manner when he chose to
be that he held unlimited control over nearly every
member of the party. He remembered, too, that Tyler
had been nominated for Vice-President in pursuance
of a bargain made by Clay's own friends in the Legis-
lature of Virginia, where they had joined the Van
Buren members in electing Mr. Rives to the Senate.
This bargain Mr. Clay had hoped would secure for
him the support of the State of Virginia in the nomi-
nating convention, and although Harrison received
the nomination for President, Clay's friends were none
the less responsible for the nomination of Tyler as
Vice-President. He was consequently very angry
when he learned what had taken place at the White
House, and he availed himself of the first opportunity
to speak of the scene in the Senate, portraying the
principal personages present with adroit sarcasm.
Some of his descriptions were life-like, especially
that of Mr. Calhoun, " tall, careworn, with fevered
brow, haggard cheek, and eye intensely gazing, look-
ing as if he were dissecting the last and newest ab-
straction which sprung from some metaphysician's
brain, and muttering to himself, in half uttered words,
' This is indeed a crisis !' " The best word-portrait,
however, was that of Senator Buchanan, whose manner
and voice were humorously imitated while he was de-
scribed as presenting his Democratic associates to the
President. Mr. Buchanan pleasantly retorted, describ-
ing in turn a caucus of disappointed Whig Congress-
men, who discussed whether it would be best to make
18
274
Perley^s Reminiscences.
open war upon " Captain Tyler," or to resort to strate-
gem, and, in the elegant language of Mr. Botts, " head
him, or die."
The mission to Great Britain had been tendered by
President Harrison to John Sargent, a distinguished
Philadelphia lawyer, who had been the candidate for
Vice-President on the unsuccessful Whig ticket headed
by Henry Clay in 1836. Mr. Sargent having declined,
President Harrison
had appointed Edward
Everett, of Massachu-
setts, who accepted,
and his name came
before the Senate for
confirmation. Mr. Ev-
erett was among the
most conservative of
New England politi
cians, but he had once,
in reply to inquiries
from Abolitionists, ex-
pressed the opinion
that Congress had
power to abolish sla-
very in the District of
Columbia. When the nomination came before the Sen-
ate, it was opposed by Mr. Buchanan and Mr. King, of
Alabama, and advocated by Mr. Choate and Henry Clay.
Mr. King, who would have received the appointment
had Mr. Everett's rejection created a vacancy, concluded
a bitter speech by saying that if Mr. Everett, holding
views in opposition to the South, was confirmed, the
Union would be dissolved ! Mr. Clay sprang to his
feet, and, pointing his long arm and index finger at
RUFUS CHOATE.
Edward Everett Indorsed^ 275
Mr. King, said : " And I tell you, Mr. President, that
if a gentleman so pre-eminently qualified for the posi-
tion of Minister should be rejected by this Senate, and
for the reason given by the Senator from Alabama,
this Union is dissolved already."
The nomination of Mr. Everett was confirmed by a
vote of twenty-three to nineteen. Every Democrat
who voted, and two Southern Whigs, voted against
him, and several Northern Democrats dodged, among
them Pierce, of New Hampshire, Williams, of Maine,
and Wright, of New York. The Southern Whigs who
stood their ground for Mr. Everett were Clay, More-
head, Berrien, Clayton, Mangum, Merrick, Graham,
and Rives,
A second fiscal agent bill was prepared in accordance
with the President's expressed views, and he said to
Mr. A. H. H. Stuart, then a Representative from Vir-
ginia, holding him by the hand : " Stuart, if you can
be instrumental in getting this bill through Congress,
I shall esteem you as the best friend I have on earth."
An attempt was made in the Senate to amend it, which
Mr. Choate, who was regarded as the mouth-piece of
Daniel Webster, opposed. Mr. Clay endeavored to
make him admit that some member of the Administra-
tion had inspired him to assert that if the bill was
amended it would be vetoed, but Mr. Choate had ex-
amined too many witnesses to be forced into any ad-
mission that he did not choose to make. Persisting in
his demand, Mr. Clay's manner and language became
offensive. " Sir," said Mr. Choate, " I insist on my
right to explain what I did say in my own words."
" But I want a direct answer," exclaimed Mr. Clay.
" Mr. President," said Mr. Choate, " the gentleman will
have to take my answer as I choose to give it to him."
276 Perley*s Reminiscences.
Here the two Senators were called to order, and both
of them were requested to take their seats. The next
day Mr. Clay made an explanation, which was satis-
factory to Mr. Choate.
This second bank or fiscal agent bill was passed by
Congress without the change of a word or a letter, yet
the President vetoed it. When the veto message was
received in the Senate there were some hisses in the
gallery, which brought Mr. Benton to his feet. Ex-
pressing his indignation, he asked that the " ruffians "
be taken into custody, and one of those who had hissed
was arrested, but, on penitently expressing his regret,
he was discharged. Tyler's Cabinet first learned that
he intended to veto this bank bill through the columns
of a New York paper, and such was their indignation
that all, with the exception of Mr. Webster, resigned. "
Mr. Bwing, who had been appointed Secretary of the
Treasury by President Harrison, and who had been
continued in office by Mr. Tyler, published his letter
of resignation, which gave all the facts in the case.
The Whig Senators and Representatives immediately
met in caucus and adopted an address to the people.
It was written by Mr. John P. Kennedy, of Maryland,
and it set forth in temperate language the differences
between them and the President, his equivocations and
tergiversations, and in conclusion they repudiated the
Administration.
Caleb Gushing, of Newburyport, Massachusetts, then
serving his fourth term in the House, espoused the
cause of President Tyler, and boldly opposed the in-
tolerant action of his Whig associates. Years after-
ward Franklin Pierce told his most intimate friend,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, that Caleb Gushing had such
mental variety and activity that he could not, if left
Cushing^s Characteristics.
277
to himself, keep hold of one view of things, bnt needed
the influence of a more stable judgment to keep him
from divergency. His fickleness was intellectual, not
moral. Mr. Gushing was at that time forty-one years
of age, of medium height, with intellectual features,
quick-glancing dark eyes, and an unmusical voice.
He spoke with ease and fluency, but his speeches read
better than they sounded. His knowledge was vast
and various, and his style,
tempered by foreign trav-
el, was classical. He had
mastered history, politics,
law, jurisprudence, moral
science, and almost every
other branch of knowl-
edge, which enabled him
to display an erudition as
marvelous in amount as
as it was varied in kind.
The Southern Repre-
sentatives, who had re-
garded Mr. Gushing with
some apprehension as a
possible leader of the com-
ing struggle for the aboli-
tion of slavery, were well pleased when they saw him
breaking away from his Northern friends. When an at-
tempt was made to depose John Quincy Adams from
the Chairmanship of the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs, because he had stood up manfully for the right
of petition, the irate ex-President asserted in the House
that the position had been offered to Mr. Gushing, who
was also a member. This Mr. Gushing denied, but
Mr. Adams, his bald head turning scarlet, exclaimed :
CALEB GUSHING.
278 Per ley's Reminiscences.
" I had the information from the gentleman him-
self."
In this debate, Mr. Adams went at some length into
the history of his past life, his intercourse and friend-
ship with Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Mon-
roe, during their successive Presidential terms. He
spoke of their confidence in himself, as manifested by
the various important offices conferred upon him, allud-
ing to important historical facts in this connection.
He knew that they all abhorred slavery, and he could
prove it, if it ware desired, from the testimony of Jef-
ferson, Madison, and Washington themselves. There
was not an Abolitionist of the wildest character, the ex-
President affirmed, but might find in the writings of Jef-
ferson, at the time of the Declaration of Independence,
and during his whole life, down to its very last year, a
justification for everything their party says on the sub-
ject of slavery, and a description of the horrors of
slavery greater than they had power to express.
Henry A. Wise had been Mr. Clay's instrument in
securing the nomination of Mr. Tyler as Vice-Presi-
dent, and was the most influential adviser at the White
House. He was then in the prime of his early man-
hood, tall, spare, and upright, with large, lustreless,
gray-blue eyes, high cheek bones, a large mouth, a
complexion saffron-hued, from his inordinate use of
tobacco, and coarse, long hair, brushed back from his
low forehead. He was brilliant in conversation, and
when he addressed an audience he was the incarnation
of effective eloquence. No one has ever poured forth
in the Capitol of the United States such torrents of
words, such erratic flights of fancy, such blasting in-
sinuations, such solemn prayers, such blasphemous
imprecations. Like Jeremiah of old, he felt the dark
Wise at Work.
279
shadow of coming events ; and he regarded the Yan-
kees as the inevitable foes of the old Commonwealth of
Virginia. He had hoped that the caucus of Whig
Representatives, at the commencement of the session,
would have nominated him for Speaker. But John
White, of Kentucky, had received the nomination, Mr.
Clay having urged his friends to vote for him, and Mr.
Wise, goaded on by disappointed ambition, sought re-
venge by endeavoring
to destroy the Whig
party. He hoped to
build on its ruins a
new political organi-
zation composed of
Whigs and of such
Democrats as might
be induced to enlist
under the Tyler ban-
ner by a lavish distri-
bution of the " loaves
and fishes." Presi-
dent Tyler's vanity
made it easy to secure
him as a figure-head,
and it was an easy task
to array him in direct opposition to the Clay Whigs,
when John M. Botts wrote an insulting letter, in which
he recommended his political associates to " head Cap-
tain Tyler, or die."
As the close of the extra session approached, the
breach between President Tyler and the Whig party
was widened, and those who had elected him saw their
hopes blasted, and the labors of the campaign lost, by
his ambitious perfidy. Nearly all of his nominations
HENRY A. WISE.
280 Per 'ley *s Reminiscences.
for office were promptly rejected, and those who for
place had espoused his cause found themselves disap-
pointed. A few days before the final adjournment, it
was announced that Senator Bagby , of Alabama, would
the next afternoon expose the shortcomings of the
Whig party. He was a type of the old-school Virginia
lawyers, who had removed to the Gulf States, and there
acquired political position and fortune. He was a large
man, with a bald head, a strong voice, and a watch-seal
dangling from his waistband.
The " Corporal's Guard " who sustained Mr. Tyler
were all on hand and prominently seated to hear him
abuse the Whigs, .and they evidently had great expec-
tations that he might eulogize the President. Upshur,
Gushing, Wise, Gilmer, with the President's sons,
Robert and John, were on the floor of the Senate, and
they were evidently delighted as the eloquent Alabam-
ian handled the Whig party without gloves. He under-
took to show that they were for and against a National
Bank, in favor of and opposed to a tariff, pro-slavery
and anti-slavery, according to their location, but all
united by a desire to secure the Federal offices.
Proceeding in a strain of fervid eloquence, he all at
once turned toward Senator Smith, of Indiana, who
was sitting in front of him, and asked, in stentorian
tones: u Why don't you Whigs keep your promises to
the American people? I pause for an answer?" Mr.
Smith promptly replied : " Because your President
won't let us." Mr. Bagby stood still for a moment,
and then contemptuously exclaimed : " Our President !
OUR President ! Do you think we would go to the most
corrupt party that was ever formed in the United States,
and then take for our President the meanest renegade
that ever left that party ?" He then went on to casti-
Tyler* s Enjoyments. 281
gate Mr. Tyler, while the " Corporal's Guard," sadly
disappointed, one by one, " silently stole away," and had
no more faith in Mr. Bagby.
Junius Brutus Booth still continued to be the leading
star at the Washington Theatre, and President Tyler
used often to enjoy his marvelous renderings, especially
his " Sir Giles Overreach," " King Lear," " Shylock,"
" Othello," and " Richard the Third." Booth, at this
time, was more than ever a slave to intoxicating drink,
so much so that he would often disappoint his audi-
ences, sometimes wholly failing to appear, yet his popu-
larity remained unabated.
FRANKLIN PIERCE was born at Hillsborough, New Hampshire, November 23d, 1804 ; was a Rep-
resentative from New Hampshire, December ad, 1833, to March 3d, 1837; was United States Sena-
tor from New Hampshire, September 4th, 1837-1842, when he resigned; declined the position of
Attorney-General, offered him by President Polk in 1846; served in the Mexican War as brigadier-
general ; was President of the United States, March 4th, 1853, to March 3d, 1857, and died at Con-
cord, New Hampshire, October 8th, 1860.
CHAPTER XXL
DIPLOMATIC AND SOCIAL LI^E OF WEBSTER.
THE; ASHBURTON TREATY— DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS— SPEECH BY
DANIEL WEBSTER — WEBSTER'S SOCIAL LIFE— MR. CLAY'S NIGHTCAPS
—ADMINISTRATION ORGANS -JUSTICE TO JOHN TYLER.
MR. WEBSTER'S great work as Secretary of
State — indeed, he regarded it as the greatest
achievement of his life— was the negotiation
of a treaty with Great Britain adjusting all existing
controversies. To secure this had prompted Mr.
Webster to enter the Cabinet of General Harrison,
and when Mr. Tyler became President Mr. Webster
pledged himself to his wealthy friends in Boston and
New York not to resign until the troubles with the
mother country had been amicably adjusted. His
position soon became very unpleasant. On the one
hand President Tyler, whose great desire was the
annexation of Texas, wanted him to resign ; on the
other hand, many influential Whigs began to regard
him with distrust for remaining in the enemy's camp.
But Mr. Webster kept on, regardless of what was said
by friend or foe.
The appointment of Lord Ashburton to represent
the British Government was especially gratifying to
Mr. Webster, who had become personally acquainted
with him when he visited England in 1839. Lord
Ashburton's family name was Alex. Baring. He had
282
Twice Married.
283
visited Philadelphia when it was the seat of the
Federal Government as the representative of his
father's banking house. Among those to whom he
had letters of introduction was Mr. William Bingham,
a wealthy merchant and United States Senator, who
lived in great style. Miss Maria Matilda Bingham,
the Senator's only daughter, who was but sixteen
years of age, had just been persuaded by the Count
de Tilly, a profligate
French nobleman, to
elope with him. They
were married, but the
Count soon intimated
that he did not care
for the girl if he could
obtain some of her
prospective fortune.
He finally accepted
five thousand pounds
in cash and an annuity
of six hundred pounds,
and left for France.
A divorce was obtained, •
and Senator Bingham
was well pleased soon
afterward when young Mr. Baring wooed and won
his daughter. With the fortune her father gave her
he was enabled on his return to London to enter
the House of Baring Brothers as a partner, and on
retiring from business in 1835 ne was created a Baron,
with the title of Lord Ashburton. When appointed on
a special mission to Washington Lord Ashburton wrote
to Mr. Webster, asking him to rent a suitable house
for the accommodation of himself and suite. Mr.
ORIGINAL SEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT.
(Old State-House, Philadelphia.)
284
Perley^s Reminiscences.
Webster accordingly rented the spacious and thor-
oughly equipped mansion erected by Matthew St. Clair
Clarke, Clerk of the House, in his prosperous days.
The price paid was twelve thousand dollars rent for
ten months, and an additional thousand dollars for
damages.
Mr. Webster, who had received full powers from Presi-
dent Tyler to conduct the negotiations on the part of
the United States, oc-
cupied the Swann
House, near that oc-
cupied by Lord Ash-
burton. Much of the
preliminary negotia-
tion was carried on at
the dinner- tables of
the contracting par-
ties, and Congres-
sional guests were
alike charmed by the
hospitable attentions
of the " fine old Eng-
lish gentleman " and
the Yankee Secretary
of State. Lord Ash-
burton offered his guests the cream of culinary perfec-
tion and the gastronomic art, with the rarest wines,
while at Mr. Webster's table American delicacies were
served in American style. Maine salmon, Massachu-
setts mackerel, New Jersey oysters, Florida shad,
Kentucky beef, West Virginia mutton, Illinois prairie
chickens, Virginia terrapin, Maryland crabs, Delaware
canvas-back ducks, and South Carolina rice-birds were
cooked by Monica, and served in a style that made the
THE SWANN HOUSE.
The Ashburton Treaty. 285
banker diplomat admit their superiority to the potages,
sauces, entremets, ragouts, and desserts of his Parisian
white-capped manipulator of casse-roles.
Lord Ashburton was about five feet ten inches in
height, and was heavily built, as Mr. Webster was. . He
had a large head, a high forehead, dark eyes, with
heavy eyebrows, and a clear red and white complexion.
His principal secretary and adviser was Mr. Frederick
William Adolphus Bruce, then in the Foreign Office,
who, after a brilliant diplomatic career, was appointed
a Knight Commander of the Bath, and came again to
Washington in 1865 as the British Minister. Another
secretary was Mr. Stepping, a fair-complexioned little
gentleman, who was a great wit, and who made a deal
of sport for the Congressional guests.
The treaty, as finally agreed upon, settled a vexatious
quarrel over our Northeastern boundary, it overthrew
the British claim to exercise the right of search, and it
established the right of property in slaves on an Ameri-
can vessel driven by stress of weather into a British
port. But the treaty did not settle the exasperating
controversy over the fisheries on the North Atlantic
coast or the disputed Northwestern boundary. When
the treaty finally reached the Senate, it was debated for
several weeks in executive session, Mr. Benton leading
a strong opposition to it. Near the close of the debate
Mr. Calhoun made a strong speech in favor of ratifica-
tion, in which he praised both Lord Ashburton and
Mr. Webster. This speech secured the ratification of
the treaty.
Having concluded the Ashburton Treaty, Mr. Web-
ster started for New England to enjoy. the rural life so
dear to him on his farm at Franklin, New Hampshire,
and at Marshfield, Massachusetts. He announced, be-
286
Reminiscences.
fore he left Washington, that on his arrival at Boston
he should address his friends in Faneuil Hall, and
there was an intense desire to hear what he might have
to say on public affairs. The leaders of the Whig
party hoped that he would announce a resignation of
his office as Secretary of State, denounce the duplicity
of President Tyler, and come gracefully to the sup-
port of Henry Clay, who had imperiously demanded
the Presidential nomi-
nation. But Mr. Web-
ster declined to accept
the advice given him,
and spoke his mind
very freely and frankly.
There was — said one
who heard the speech —
no sly insinuation or in-
nuendo, but a straight-
forward, independent
expression of truth, a
copious outpouring of
keen reproof, solemn
admonition, and earnest
entreaty.
Among those former
home-friends whose behavior was very annoying to
Mr. Webster at this time was Mr. Abbott Lawrence,
a Boston merchant, who, having amassed a large for-
tune, coveted political honors, and was a liberal con-
tributor to the campaign fund of his party. Astute
and observing, he imagined himself a representative
of the merchant-princes of Venice under the Doges
and England under the Plantagenets, and he spoke
in a measured, stately tone, advancing his ideas with
ABBOTT LAWRENCE.
Webster at Marshfield.
287
a positiveness that would not brook contradiction. On
several occasions he had been one of " the solid men
of Boston " who had contributed considerable sums for
the pecuniary relief of Mr. Webster, and this embol-
dened him to assume a dictatorial tone in advising the
Secretary of State to resign after the Ashburton Treaty
had been negotiated. The command was treated with
sovereign contempt, and thenceforth Mr. Lawrence
looked upon Mr. Web-
ster as ungrateful, and
as standing in the
way of his own politi-
cal advancement. But
Mr. Webster defied the
would-be cotton-lord,
saying : " I am a
Whig — aFaneuil Hall
Whig — and if any one
undertakes to turn me
out of that commun-
ion, let him see to it
who gets out first."
While Mr. Webster
had been negotiating
the Ashburton Treaty,
and after he had found rest at Marshfield, he dis-
played the same sprightly humor and tender sweet-
ness which so endeared him to those who were per-
mitted to enjoy intimate social relations with him.
He always rose with the sun, visiting his farm-yards at
Marshfield. and going to market at Washington, before
breakfast, with a visit at either place to the kitchen,
where he would gravely discuss the culinary pro-
gramme of the day with Monica, a cook of African de-
WEBSTER'S AFRICAN COOK.
288 Perlefs Reminiscences.
scent, whose freedom lie had purchased. After break-
fast, he would study or write or fish all day, dressing
for a late dinner, after which he gave himself up to re-
creation ; sometimes, as Colonel Seaton's daughter has
pleasantly told us, singing hymns or songs, generally
impartially to the same tune ; or gravely essaying the
steps of a minuet de la cour, which he had seen danced
in the courtly Madisonian era ; or joining in the jests
of the gay circle, his magnificent teeth gleaming, his
great, living coals of eyes — " sleeping furnaces,1' Car-
lyle called them — soft as a woman's ; or his rare, ten-
der smile lighting up the dusky grandeur of his face.
Mr. Webster was not, at that period of his life, an in-
temperate drinker, although, like many other gentle-
men of that day, he often imbibed too, freely at the
dinneV-table.
An amusing account has been given of an after-din-
ner speech by Mr. Webster at a gathering of his politi-
cal friends, when he had to be prompted by a friend
who sat just behind him, and gave him successively
phrases and topics. The speech proceeded somewhat
after this fashion : Prompter : " Tariff." Webster :
" The tariff, gentlemen, is a subject requiring the pro-
found attention of the statesman. American industry,
gentlemen, must be — " (nods a little). Prompter:
" National Debt." Webster : "And, gentlemen, there's
the national debt — it should be paid (loud cheers,
which rouse the speaker) ; yes, gentlemen, it should be
paid (cheers), and I'll be hanged if it sha'n't be — (tak-
ing out his pocket-book) — I'll pay it myself! How
much is it ?" This last question was asked of a gentle-
man near him with drunken seriousness, and, coupled
with the recollection of the well-known impecuniosity
of Webster's pocket-book it excited roars of laughter,
Wit Among the Whigs. 289
amidst which the orator sank into his seat and was
soon asleep.
Prominent among the Whig Senators was Nathan F.
Dixon, of Westerly, Rhode Island. He was one of the
old school of political gentlemen. His snow-white hair
was tied in a long queue, he hafl a high forehead,
aquiline nose, wide mouth, and dark eyes, which
gleamed through his glasses. Respecting the body of
which he was a member, he used to appear in a black
coat and knee-breeches, with a ruffled shirt, white waist-
coat, and white silk stockings. He was the Chairman
of the Whig Senatorial caucus, and on the last night
of the extra session Mr. Clay had complimented him,
in rather equivocal language, on the ability with which
he had presided. When the laughter had subsided,
Senator Dixon rose, and with inimitable humor thanked
the Senator from Kentucky. " I am aware," said he,
" that I never had but one equal as a presiding officer,
and that was the Senator from Kentucky. Some of
you may have thought that he was not in earnest, but
did you know him as well as I do, you would credit any
remark he may make before ten o'clock at night — after
that, owing to the strength of his night-caps, there may
be doubts." Roars of laughter followed, and the Sen-
ate caucus adjourned, as the Senate had done, sine die.
President Tyler had great faith in the power of the
newspaper press, and he secured, at an early period of
his Administration, by a lavish distribution of the
advertising patronage of the Executive Departments,
an " organ " in nearly every State. The journals thus
recompensed for their support of the Administration
were generally without political influence, but Mr.
Tyler prized their support, and personally looked after
their interests. Alluding to them in a letter to a
19
290 Perley^s Reminiscences.
friend, he said : " Their motives may be selfish, but if I
reject them for that, who among the great mass of office-
holders can be trusted ? They give one all the aid in
their power, and I do not stop to inquire into motives."
In another letter he complains of an official at New
Orleans, saying: "I have felt no little surprise at the
fact that he should have thrown into the Bee [a most
abusive paper] advertisements of great value, and re-
fused to give them to the Republican, a paper zealous
and able in the cause of the Administration." The
central " organ," from which the others were to take
their cues, was the Madisonian, originally established
by Thomas Allen. He disposed of it after he married
the handsome and wealthy Miss Russell, of Missouri,
whose tiara and necklace of diamonds had been the
envy of all the ladies at Washington. John B. Johnson,
the author of Wild Western Scenes, then became the
editor, and wrote ponderous editorials advocating
"Justice to John Tyler," which the minor organs all
over the country were expected to copy.
RUFUS CHOATK was born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, October ist, 1799 ; was a Representative in
Congress from Massachusetts, 1831-1834 ; was United States Senator, 1841-1845, and died at Halifax,
Nova Scotia, July I3th, 1859.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CAPITOL AND THE DRAWING-ROOMS.
A STORMY SESSION — JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AT BAY — THE CODE OP HONOR
— THE SUPREME COURT — VISIT OP CHARLES DICKENS— THE SECRETARY
O"P STATE'S PARTY — A RECEPTION AT THE WHITE HOUSE — THE PRESI-
DENT'S BALL FOR CHILDREN— DIPLOMATIC HOSPITALITY — OLE BULL
— A TROUBLESOME CONGRESSMAN.
WHEN the Twenty-seventh Congress met in
December, 1841, it was evident that there
could be no harmonious action between
that body and the President, but he was not disposed
to succumb. Writing to a friend, he said the coming
session was " likely to prove as turbulent and fractious
as any since the days of Adam. But [he added] I
have a firm grip on the reins." In this he was mis-
taken, or, rather, he had been deceived by the syco-
phants around him. Neither House paid any attention
to the recommendations which he made in his mes-
sages, and only a few of his nominations were con-
firmed. The Whigs, who had elected the President,
repudiated all responsibility for his acts and treated
him as a traitor, and the Democrats, while they ac-
cepted offices from him, generally spoke of him with
contempt.
The Senate contained at that time many able men.
Henry Clay was in the pride of his political power,
but uneasy and restive as a caged lion. John C. Cal-
houn was in the full glory of his intellectual magnifi-
291
292
Perley*s Reminiscences.
cence and purity of personal character. Preston's
flexible voice and graceful gestures invested his elo-
quence with resistless effect over those whom it was
intended to persuade, to encourage, or to control. Bar-
row, of Louisiana, the handsomest man in the Senate,
spoke with great effect, Phelps, of Vermont, was a
somewhat eccentric yet forcible debater. Silas Wright,
Levi Woodbury,
and Robert J,
Walker were la-
boring for the res-
toration of the
Democrats to
power. Benton
stood sturdily,
like a gnarled oak
tree, defying all
who offered to op-
pose him. Allen,
whose loud voice
had gained for
him the appella-
tion of "the Ohio
gong," spoke with
his usual vehe-
mence. Franklin
Pierce was demonstrating his devotion to the slave-
power, while Rufus Choate poured forth his wealth of
words in debate, his dark complexion corrugated by
swollen veins, and his great, sorrowful eyes gazing
earnestly at his listeners. Wendell Phillips once said
of Mr. Choate that he was " the man who made it safe
to murder, and of whose health thieves asked before
they began to steal." It may have been that in
LEVI WOODBURY.
Choate's Oratory. 293
the excitement of pleading before a jury he may
have occasionally been carried beyond the depth of
logical argument which his judgment approved. But
in the Senate he had no equal as an orator. His
elaborate and brilliant speeches were listened to with
earnest attention by the other Senators, who would
now be convulsed with laughter and then flooded with
tears.
In the House of Representatives there were unusu-
ally brilliant and able men. John Quincy Adams,
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, was
the recognized leader. Mr. Fillmore, of New York, a
stalwart, pleasant-featured man, with a remarkably
clear-toned voice, was Chairman of the Committee on
Ways and Means. Henry A. Wise, Chairman of the
Committee on Naval Affairs, was able to secure a large
share of patronage for the Norfolk Navy Yard. George
N. Briggs (afterward Governor of Massachusetts), who
was an earnest advocate of temperance, was Chairman
of the Postal Committee. Joshua R. Giddings, who
was a sturdy opponent of slavery at that early day,
was Chairman of the Committee on Claims. John P".
Kennedy, of Maryland, an accomplished scholar and
popular author, was Chairman of the Committee on
Commerce ; Edward Stanly, of North Carolina, was
Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs ; Lev-
erett Saltonstall, of the Committee on Manufactures ;
indeed, there was not a Committee of the House that
did not have a first-class man as its chairman.
But the session soon became a scene of sectional
strife. Mr. Adams, in offering his customary daily
budget of petitions, presented one from several anti-
slavery citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts, praying
for a dissolution of the Union, which raised a tempest.
294 Perley^s Reminiscences.
The Southern Representatives met that night in
caucus, and the next morning Mr. Marshall, of Ken-
tucky, offered a series of resolutions deploring the
presentation of the obnoxious petition and censuring
Mr. Adams for having presented it. An excited and
acrimonious debate, extending over several days, fol-
lowed. The principal feature of this exciting scene
was the venerable object of censure, then nearly four-
score years of age, his limbs trembling with palsy, his
bald head crimson with excitement, and tears dropping
from his eyes, as he for four days stood defying the
storm and hurling back defiantly the opprobrium with
which his adversaries sought to stigmatize him. He
was animated by the recollection that the slave-power
had prevented the re-election of his father and of him-
self to the Presidential chair, and he poured forth the
hoarded wrath of half a century. Lord Morpeth, who
was then in Washington, and who occupied a seat on
the floor of the House near Mr. Adams during the
entire debate, said that " he put one in mind of a fine
old game-cock, and occasionally showed great energy
and power of sarcasm."
Mr. Wise became the prosecutor of Mr. Adams, and
asserted that both he and his father were in alliance
with Great Britain against the South. Mr. Adams
replied with great severity, his shrill voice ringing
through the hall. " Four or five years ago," said he,
" there came to this House a man with his hands and
face dripping with the blood of murder, the blotches
of which are yet hanging upon him, and when it was
proposed that he should be tried by this House for that
crime I opposed it." After this allusion to the killing
of Mr. Cilley in a duel, Mr. Adams proceeded to casti-
gate Mr. Wise without mercy.
An Affair of Honor. 295
At the spring races, in 1842, over the Washington
Course, Mr. Stanly, of North Carolina, accidentally
rode so close to the horse of Mr. Wise as to jostle that
gentleman, who gave him several blows with a cane.
Mr. Stanly at once sent a friend to Mr. Wise with an
invitation to meet him at Baltimore, that they might
settle their difficulty, and then left for that city. Mr.
Wise remained in Washington, where he was arrested
the next day, under the anti-dueling law, and placed
tinder bonds to keep the peace. Mr. Stanly remained at
Baltimore for several days, expecting Mr. Wise. He
was the guest of Mr. Reverdy Johnson, under whose
instruction he practiced with dueling-pistols, firing at
a, mark. One morning Mr. Johnson took a pistol him-
self and fired it, but the ball rebounded and struck him
in the left eye, completely destroying it. Mr. Stanly
returned the next day to Washington, where mutual
friends adjusted the difficulty between Mr. Wise and
himself.
The vaulted arches of the old Supreme Court room
in the basement of the Capitol (now the Law Library)
used to echo in those days with the eloquence of Clay,
Webster, Choate, Sargent, Binney, Atherton, Kennedy,
Berrien, Crittenden, Phelps, and other able lawyers.
Their Honors, the Justices, were rather a jovial set,
especially Judge Story, who used to assert that every
man should laugh at least an hour during each day,
and who had himself a great fund of humorous anec-
dotes. One of them, that he loved to tell, was of
Jonathan Mason, of whom he always spoke in high
praise. It set forth that at the trial of a Methodist
preacher for the alleged murder of a young girl, the
evidence was entirely circumstantial, and there was a
wide difference of opinion concerning his guilt. One
296 Perley's Reminiscences.
morning, just before the opening of the court, a brother
preacher stepped up to Mason and said : " Sir, I had a
dream last night, in which the angel Gabriel appeared
and told me that the prisoner was not guilty." " Ah !"
replied Mason, " have him subpoenaed immediately.'*
CHARLES DICKENS.
Charles Dickens first visited Washington in 1842. He
was then a young man. The attentions showered upon
the great progenitor of Dick Swiveller turned his head.
The most prominent men in the country told him how
they had ridden with him in the Markis of Granby^
Webster^s
297
with old Weller on the box and Samivel on the dickey ;
how they had played cribbage with the Marchioness
and quaffed the rosy with Dick Swiveller ; how they
had known honest Tim Linkwater and angelic Little
Nell, ending with the welcome words of Sir John
Falstaff, " D'ye think we didn't know ye ? We knew
ye as well as Him that made ye."
Mr. Webster gave a party on the night of January
26th, 1842, which was
the crowning enter-
tainment of the season.
Eight rooms of his
commodious house
were thrown open to
the guests, and were
most dazzlingly light-
ed. There had not
been in Washington
for two Administra-
tions so large and bril-
liant an assemblage of
female beauty and po-
litical rank. Among
the more distinguished
guests were the Presi-
dent, Lord Morpeth, Mr. Fox, the British Minister, M.
Bacourt, the French Minister, Mr. Bodisco, the Russian
Minister, and most of the Diplomatic Corps attached to
the several legations, besides several Judges of the Su-
preme Court and many members of Congress. The
honorable Secretary received his numerous guests with
that dignity and courtesy which was characteristic of
him, and seemed to be in excellent spirits. There was
no dancing, nor even music. There was, however,
WASHINGTON IRVING.
298 Per ley's Reminiscences.
plenty of lively conversation, promenades, eating of
ices, and sipping of rich wines, with the usual spice of
flirtation.
President Tyler's last reception of the season of 1842,
on the night of the i5th of March, gathered one of the
greatest crowds ever assembled in the White House.
There was every variety of the American citizen et
citoyenne present — those of every form, shape, length,
breadth, complexion, and dress. There were old ladies
decked in the finery of their youthful days, and chil-
dren in their nurses' arms. " Boz " was the lion of the
evening, and he stood like Patience on a monument.
He totally eclipsed Washington Irving, who was then
at Washington to receive his instructions as Minister
to Spain. The President's Cabinet, Foreign Ministers,
some of the Judges of the Supreme Court, a sprinkling
of Senators, two or three scores of Representatives, and
fifteen hundred men, women, and children, in every
costume, and from every nook and corner of the coun-
try, made up the remainder of the medley.
A children's fancy ball was given at the White
House by President Tyler, in honor of the birthday of
his eldest granddaughter. Dressed as a fairy, with
gossamer wings, a diamond star on her forehead, and a
silver wand, she received her guests. Prominent among
the young people was the daughter of General Almonte,
the Mexican Minister, arrayed as an Aztec Princess.
Master Schermerhorn, of New York, was beautifully
dressed as an Albanian boy, and Ada Cutts, as a flower-
girl, gave promise of the intelligence and beauty which
in later years led captive the " Little Giant " of the
West. The boys and girls of Henry A. Wise were
present, the youngest in the arms of its mother, and
every State in the Union was represented.
Baron Bodisco's Entertainment.
299
After old Baron Bodisco's marriage to the young and
beautiful Miss Williams, the Russian Legation at
Georgetown became the scene of brilliant weekly enter-
tainments, given, it was asserted, by especial direction
PRESIDENT TYLER'S
PARTY FOR CHILDREN.
of the Emperor Nicholas, who had a special allowance
made for table-money. At these entertainments there
was dancing, an excellent supper, and a room devoted
to whist. Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, General Scott, and
300 Perley*s Reminiscences.
several of the Diplomatic Corps were invariably to be
seen handling " fifty-two pieces of printed pasteboard,"
while the old Baron, though not a good player, as the
host of the evening, was accustomed to take a hand.
One night he sat down to play with those better
acquainted with the game, and he lost over a thousand
dollars. At the supper-table he made the following an-
nouncement, in a sad tone : " Ladies and gentlemens !
It is my disagreeable duty to make the announce that
these receptions must have an end, and to declare them
at an end for the present, because why ? The fund for
their expend, ladies and gentlemens, is exhaust, and
they must discontinue."
Ole Bull, the renowned violinist, then gave a con-
cert at Washington, which was largely and fashionably
attended. In the midst of one of his most exquisite
performances, while every breath was suspended, and
every ear attentive to catch the sounds of his magical
instrument, the silence was suddenly broken and the
harmony harshly interrupted by the well-known voice
of General Felix Grundy McConnell, a Representa-
tive from the Talladega district of Alabama, shouting,
" None of your high-falutin, but give us Hail Colum-
bia, and bear hard on the treble ! " u Turn him out ! "
was shouted from every part of the house, and the
police force in attendance undertook to remove him
from the hall. " Mac," as he was called, was not only
one of the handsomest men in Congress, but one of
the most athletic, and it was a difficult task for the
policemen to overpower him, although they used
their clubs. After he was carried from the hall, some
of his Congressional friends interfered, and secured his
release.
The publication of verbatim reports of the proceed-
OLE BULL, THE FAMOUS VIOLINIST.
302 Perley's Reminiscences.
ings of Congress was systematically begun during
Folk's Administration by John C. Rives, in the Con-
gressional Globe, established a few years previously as
an offshoot from the old Democratic organ. This un-
questionably had a disastrous effect .upon the eloquence
of Congress, which no longer hung upon the accents
of its leading members, and rarely read what appeared
in the report of its debates. Imitating Demosthenes
and Cicero, Chatham and Burke, Mirabeau and Lamar-
tine, the Congressmen of the first fifty years of the
Republic poured forth their breathing thoughts and
burning words in polished and elegant language, and
were listened to by their colleagues and by spectators
so alive to the beauties of eloquence that they were
entitled to the appellation of assemblages of trained
critics. The publication of verbatim reports of the
debates put an end to this, for Senators and Represen-
tatives addressed their respective constituents through
the Congressional Globe.
FELIX GRUNDY was born in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia), September nth, 1777 ;
-.vas a Representative from Tennessee, 1811-1814; was United States Senator, 1829-1838 ; was At-
torney-General under President Van Buren, 1838-1840; was again elected Senator in 1840, and died
at Nashville, December igth of the same year.
CHAPTER XXIII.
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT — VIRGINIA HOSPITALITY — SECOND-HAND
STYLE — THE PATHFINDER'S MARRIAGE — BARON DE BODISCO, OP
RUSSIA — MR. POX, OP GREAT BRITAIN — THE AUTHOR OP " SWEET
HOME" — THE DAGUERREOTYPE — THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH — THE
NEW YORK TRIBUNE — RESIGNATION OP MR. WEBSTER — RECONSTRUC-
TION OP THE CABINET — FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE PRINCETON — MAR-
RIAGE OP PRESIDENT TYLER.
JOHN TYLER, who was fifty-one years of age
when he took possession of the Executive Man-
sion, was somewhat above the medium height>
and of slender figure, with long limbs and great
activity of movement. His thin auburn hair turned
white during his term of office, his nose was large and
prominent, his eyes were of a bluish-gray, his lips were
thin, and his cheeks sunken. His manners were those
of the old school of Virginia gentlemen, and he was
very courteous to strangers. The ceremonious eti-
quette established at the White House by Van Buren
vanished, and the President lived precisely as he had
on his plantation, attended by his old family slaves.
He invariably invited visitors with whom he was
acquainted, or strangers who were introduced to him,
to visit the family dining-room and " take something "
from a sideboard well garnished with decanters of
ardent spirits and wines, with a bowl of juleps in the
summer and of egg-nog" in the winter. He thus
303
3°4
Perley^s Reminiscences.
expended nearly all of his salary, and used to regret
that it was not larger, that he might entertain his guests
more liberally.
One day President Tyler joked Mr. Wise about his
little one-horse carriage, which the President styled " a
candle-box on wheels," to which the Representative
from the Accomac district retorted by telling Mr. Tyler
that he had been riding for a month in a second-hand
carriage purchased at the sale of the effects of Mr.
Paulding, the Secretary of the
Navy under Mr. Van Buren,
and having the Paulding coat-
of-arms emblazoned on the door
panels. The President laughed
at the sally, and gave orders at
once to have the armorial bear-
ings of the Pauldings painted
over. Economy also prompted
the purchase of some partly
worn suits of livery at the sale
of the effects of a foreign Minis-
ter, and these were afterward
worn by the colored waiters at
state dinners.
"Beau" Hickman, as he called
himself, .made his appearance at Washington toward the
close of the Tyler Administration. He was of middle
size, with long hair, and an inoffensive, cadaverous coun-
tenance. It was his boast that he was born among the
slashes of Hanover County, Virginia, and he was to be
seen lounging about the hotels, fashionably, yet shab-
bily, dressed, generally wearing soiled white kid gloves
and a white cravat. It was considered the proper thing
to introduce strangers to the Beau, who thereupon un-
BEAU" HICKMAN.
Colonel Bentori's Home.
305
blushingly demanded his initiation fee, and his impu-
dence sometimes secured him a generous sum. He
was always ready to pilot his victims to gambling-
houses and other questionable resorts, and for a quarter
of a century he lived on the blackmail thus levied upon
strangers.
One of the most agreeable homes in Washington
was that of Colonel Benton, the veteran Senator from
Missouri, whose ac-
complished and grace-
ful daughters had been
thoroughly educated
under his own super-
vision. He was not
willing, however, that
one of them, Miss Jes-
sie, should receive the
attentions of a young
second lieutenant in
the corps of Topo-
graphical Engineers,
Mr. Fremont, and the
young couple, there-
fore, eloped and were
married clandestinely.
The Colonel, although terribly angry at first, accepted
the situation, and his powerful support in Congress
afterward enabled Mr. Fremont to explore, under the
patronage of the General Government, the vast central
regions beyond the Rocky Mountains, and to plant the
national flag on Wind River Peak, upward of thirteen
thousand feet above the Gulf of Mexico.
A very different wedding was that of the Baron Alex-
ander de Bodisco, the Russian Minister Plenipotentiary,
20
J. C. FREMONT.
306 Perley^s Reminiscences.
and Miss Harriet Williams, a daughter of the chief
clerk in the office of the Adjutant-General. The
Baron was nearly fifty years of age, with dyed hair,
whiskers, and moustache, and she a blonde schoolgirl
of " sweet sixteen," celebrated for her clear complexion
and robust beauty. The ceremony was performed at
her father's house on Georgetown Heights, and was a
regular May and December affair throughout. There
were eight groomsmen, six of whom were well advanced
in life, and as many bridesmaids, all of them young
girls from fourteen to sixteen years of age, wearing
long dresses of white satin damask, donated by the
"bridegroom. The question of precedence gave the
Earon much trouble, as he could not determine whether
Mr. Fox, then the British Minister and Dean of the
Diplomatic Corps, or Senator Buchanan, who had been
Minister to Russia, should be the first groomsman.
This important question was settled by having the
groomsmen and bridesmaids stand in couples, four on
either side of the bridegroom and bride. The ceremony
was witnessed at the bride's residence by a distin-
guished company, and the bridal party then went in
carriages to the Russian Legation, where an elegant
entertainment awaited them, and where some of the
many guests got gloriously drunk in drinking the
health of the happy couple.
Queen Victoria's diplomatic representative at Wash-
ington at that time, the Honorable Henry Stephen
Fox, was a son of General Fox, of the British Army,
who fought at the battle of Lexington in 1775, and
a nephew of the eminent statesman, Charles James
Fox. He had served in the British Diplomatic Corps
for several years, and was thoroughly acquainted with
Ms duties, but he held the least possible intercourse
John Howard Payne. 307
with the Department of State and rarely entered a
private house. He used to rise about three o'clock in
the afternoon, and take his morning walk on Pennsyl-
vania Avenue an hour or two later. Miss Seaton says
that a gentleman on one occasion, meeting him at dusk
in the Capitol grounds, urged him to return with him to
dinner, to which Mr. Fox replied that " he would wil-
lingly do so, but his people were waiting breakfast for
liim." On the occasion of the funeral of a member of
the Diplomatic Corps, turning to the wife of the Span-
ish Minister, he said : " How very odd we all look by
•daylight !" it being the first time he had seen his col-
leagues except by candle-light. He went to bed at
daylight, after watering his plants, of which he was
passionately fond.
John Howard Payne visited Washington to solicit
from President Tyler a foreign consulate. He was
then in the prime of life, slightly built, and rather
under the medium height. His finely developed head
was bald on the top, but the sides were covered with
light brown hair. His nose was large, his eyes were
light blue, and he wore a full beard, consisting of side-
whiskers and a moustache, which were always well-
trimmed. He was scrupulously neat in his dress, and
tisually wore a dark brown frock coat and a black vest,
while his neck was covered with a black satin scarf,
which was arranged in graceful folds across his breast.
Despite his unpretending manner and his plain attire,
there was something about his appearance which never
failed ,to attract attention. His voice was low and
musical, and when conversing on any subject in which
he was deeply interested he spoke with a degree of
earnestness that enchained the attention and touched
the hearts of his listeners. After much solicitation by
308
Perley^s Reminiscences.
himself and his friends, he obtained the appointment
of United States Consul at Tunis, and left for his post,
^i^f^^m-
rdr » -^."-tf. v.'V-';'- 3S
„&&
s^-rfaJ-E
<
PAYNE'S MONUMENT AT OAK HILL CEMETERY.
where he died, his remains being finally brought to the
Capital and buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Among the curiosities of Washington about this
time was the studio of Messrs. Moore & Ward, in one
of the committee-rooms at the Capitol, where like-
Daguerreotypes and Telegraphs.
309
nesses were taken — as the advertisement read — " with
the Daguerreotype, or Pencil of Nature." The " like-
nesses, by diffused light, could be taken by them in
any kind of weather during the daytime, and sitters
were not subjected to the slightest inconvenience or
unpleasant sensation." The new discovery gradually
supplanted the painting of miniatures on ivory in
water-colors, and the cutting of silhouettes from white
paper, which were
shown on a black
ground. Another novel
invention was 'the elec-
tric, or, as it was then
called, the magnetic,
telegraph. Mr. Morse
had a model on exhibi-
tion at the Capitol, and
the beaux and belles
used to hold brief con-
versations over the mys-
terious wire. At last
the House considered a
bill appropriating twen-
ty-five thousand dol-
lars, to be expended in
a series of experiments
with the new invention.
In the brief debate on the bill, Mr. Cave Johnson
undertook to ridicule the discovery by proposing that
one-half of the proposed appropriation be devoted to
experiments with mesmerism, while Mr. Houghton
thought that Millerism (a religious craze then preva-
lent) should be included in the benefits of the appro-
priation. To those who thus ridiculed the telegraph it
SAMUEL F. B. MORSE.
310 Per 'ley 's Reminiscences.
was a chimera, a visionary dream like mesmerism,
rather to be a matter of merriment than serionsly
entertained. Men of character, men of erudition, men
who, in ordinary affairs, had foresight, were wholly
unable to forecast the future of the telegraph. Other
motions disparaging to the invention were made, such
as propositions to appropriate part of the sum to a
telegraph to the moon. The majority of Congress did
not concur in this attempt to defeat the measure by
ridicule, and the bill was passed by the close vote of
eighty-nine to eighty-three. A change of three votes,
however, would have consigned the invention to obliv-
ion. Another year witnessed the triumphant success
of the test of its practicability. The invention vindi-
cated its character as a substantial reality ; it was no
longer a chimera, a visionary scheme to extort money
from the public coffers. Mr. Morse was no more sub-
jected to the suspicion of lunacy, nor ridiculed in the
Halls of Congress, but he had to give large shares of
its profits to Amos Kendall and F. O. J. Smith before
he could make his discovery of practical value.
The New York Tribune was first published during
the Tyler Administration by Horace Greeley, who had
very successfully edited the Log Cabin, a political
newspaper, during the preceding Presidential cam-
paign. The Tribune, like the New York Herald and
Sun, was then sold at one cent a copy, and was neces-
sarily little more than a brief summary of the news
of the day. But it was the germ of what its editor
lived to see it become — a great newspaper. It soon
had a good circulation at Washington, where the emi-
nently respectable National Intelligencer and the pon-
derous Globe failed to satisfy the reading community.
Mr. Webster remained in the Cabinet until the
Honors for Webster. 311
spring of 1843, when the evident determination of
President Tyler to secure the annexation of Texas
made it very desirable that Webster should leave, so
he was " frozen out " by studied reserve and coldness.
By remaining in the Cabinet he had estranged many
of his old political associates, and Colonel Seaton,
anxious to bring about a reconciliation, gave one of
his famous "stag" supper-parties, to which he invited
a large number of Senators and members of the House
of Representatives. The convivialities had just com-
menced when the dignified form of Webster was seen
entering the parlor, and as he advanced his big eyes
surveyed the company, recognizing, doubtless, some of
those who had become partially alienated from him.
On the instant, up sprang a distinguished Senator
from one of the large Southern States, who exclaimed:
"Gentlemen, I have a sentiment to propose — the health
of our eminent citizen, the negotiator of the Ashbur-
ton Treaty." The company enthusiastically responded.
Webster instantly replied : " I have also a sentiment
for you, — The Senate of the United States, without
which the Ashburton Treaty would have been nothing,
and the negotiator of that treaty less than nothing. "
The quickness and fitness of this at once banished
every doubtful or unfriendly feeling. The company
clustered around the magnate, whose sprightly and edi-
fying conversation never failed to excite admiration,
and the remainder of the evening was spent in a
manner most agreeable to all.
Immediately after the resignation of Mr. Webster
the Cabinet was reconstructed, but a few months later
the bursting of a cannon on the war-steamer Princeton,
while returning from a pleasure excursion down the
Potomac, killed Mr. Upshur, the newly appointed Sec-
3I2
Perley^s Reminiscences.
retary of State, Mr. Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy,
with six others, while Colonel Benton narrowly escaped
death, and nine seamen were injured. The President
had intended to witness the discharge of the gnn, but
was casually detained in the cabin, and so escaped
harm. This shocking catastrophe cast a gloom over
Washington, and there was a general attendance, irre-
BURSTING OF THE GUN ON THE PRINCETON.
spective of party, at the funeral of the two Cabinet
officers, who were buried from the White House.
One of those killed by the explosion on the Prince-
ton was Mr. Gardiner, a New York gentleman, whose
ancestors were the owners of Gardiner's Island, in Long
Island Sound. His daughter Julia, a young lady of
fine presence, rare beauty, and varied accomplishments,
had for some time been the object of marked attentions
A Helpful Wife. 313
from President Tyler, although he was in his fifty-fifth
year and she bnt about twenty. Soon after she was
deprived of her father they were quietly married in
church at New York, and President Tyler brought his
young bride to the White House.
Mrs. Lydia Dickinson, wife of Daniel F. Dickinson,
a Senator from New York, was the recognized leader
of Washington society during the Administration of
President Tyler. She was the daughter of Dr. Knapp,
and, when a school girl, fell in love with Dickinson,
then a smart young wool-dresser, and discerning his
talents, urged him to study law. and to fit himself for
a high political position in life. She was gratified by
his unexampled advancement, and when he came here
a United States Senator, she soon took a prominent
part in the social life of the metropolis.
CALEB GUSHING was born at Salisbury, Massachusetts, January yth, 1800 ; was a Representatire
in Congress from Massachusetts, 1835-1843 ; was Commissioner to China, 1843-1845 ; served in the
Mexican War as Colonel and Brigadier-General, 1847-1848; was Attorney-General of the United
States under President Pierce, 1853-1857 ; was counsel for the United States before the Geneva tri-
bunal of arbitration on the Alabama claims, 1871 ; was Minister to Spain, 1874-1877, and died at
Newburyport, Massachusetts, January 2d, 1879.
CHAPTER XXIV.
HOW TEXAS BECAME A STATE.
JOHN C. CALHOUN, SECRETARY OP STATE — HOW TYLER WAS MANAGED
— ADMISSION OF TEXAS— DOUGLAS, OP ILLINOIS— AN ABLE HOUSE OP
REPRESENTATIVES — EXCITING PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN — PRO-
GRAMME OF PRESIDENT TYLER — NOMINATION OF HENRY CLAY — THE
DEMOCRATIC TICKET — SURPRISE OF MR. DALLAS — THE LIBERTY
PARTY — BIRTHNIGHT BALL — EXIT OF JOHN TYLER.
PRESIDENT TYLER was encouraged in his
desire to have Texas admitted as a State of the
Union by Henry A. Wise, his favorite adviser,
and by numerous holders of Texan war scrip and
bonds. Before the victims of the Princeton explosion
were shrouded, Mr. Wise called upon Mr. McDuffie, a
member of the Senate, who represented Mr. Calhoun's
interests at Washington, and informed him that the
distinguished South Carolinian would be appointed
Secretary of State. Mr. Wise urged the Senator to
write to Mr. Calhoun at once, begging him not to de-
cline the position should he be nominated and con-
firmed. Mr. McDuffie did not ask Mr. Wise if he
spoke by Mr. Tyler's authority, but evidently believed
that he was so authorized, and promised to write to
Mr. Calhoun by that afternoon's mail.
Mr. Wise then went to the Executive Mansion,
where he found Mr. Tyler in the breakfast room, much
affected by the account of the awful catastrophe of the
previous day. Mr. Wise told him rather abruptly that
Calhoun in the Cabinet.
315
it was no time for grief, as there were vacancies in the
Cabinet to be filled, in order that urgent matters then
under his control might be disposed of. " What is to
be done ?" asked President Tyler. Mr. Wise had an
answer ready : " Your most important work is the
annexation of Texas, and the man for that work is
John C. Calhoun, as Secretary of State. Send for him
at once."
" No, sir !" replied the President, rather coldly.
" The annexation of
Texas is important,
but Mr. Calhoun is not
the man of my choice."
This was rather a dam-
per on Mr. Wise, but
he resolutely insisted
on Mr. Calhoun's ap-
pointment, and finally
the President yielded.
The nomination was
sent to the Senate and
confirmed without op-
position. Mr. Calhoun
came to Washington,
and was soon installed
as Secretary of State.
It took him only from February a8th to April i2th
to conclude the negotiation which placed the "Lone
Star " in the azure field of the ensign of the Re-
public. The treaty of annexation was signed and sent
to the Senate for ratification, but after a protracted
discussion it was rejected by a vote of sixteen yeas to
thirty-five nays. Stephen A. Douglas, who had just
entered Congress as one of the seven Representatives
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS.
316
Perleyfs Reminiscences.
from Illinois, came to the front ac tlia^ time as the
principal advocate for the remission of a fine which
had been imposed upon General Jackson by Judge
Hall at New Orleans twenty-five years before.
This was the first move made by Mr. Douglas in his
canvass for the Presidency, but he was soon prominent
in that class of candidates of whom Senator William
Allen, of Ohio, said, " Sir ! they are going about the
country like dry-goods
drummers, exhibiting
samples of their
wares." Always on
the alert to make new
friends and to retain
old ones, he was not
only a vigorous hand-
shaker, but he would
throw his arms fondly
around a man, as if
that man held the first
place in his heart.
No statement was too
chary of truth in its
composition, no parti-
san manoeuvre was too
openly dishonest, no political pathway was too danger-
ous, if it afforded an opportunity for making a point for
Douglas. He was industrious and sagacious, clothing
his brilliant ideas in energetic and emphatic language,
and standing like a lion at bay when opposed. He had
a herculean frame, with the exception of his lower
limbs, which were short and small, dwarfing what
otherwise would have been a conspicuous figure, and he
was popularly known as " the Little Giant." His
ROBERT C. WINTHROP.
Giants in the House.
317
large, round head surmounted a massive neck, and his
features were symmetrical, although his small nose
deprived them of dignity. His dark eyes, peering
from beneath projecting brows, gleamed with energy,
mixed with an expression of slyness and sagacity, and
his full lips were generally stained at the corners of
his mouth with tobacco juice. His voice was neither
musical nor soft, and his gestures were not graceful.
But he would speak
for hours in clear, well
enunciated tones, and
the sharp Illinois at-
torney soon developed
into the statesman at
Washington.
The House of Rep-
resentatives, at that
period, could boast of
more ability than the
Senate. Among the
most prominent mem-
bers were the accom-
plished Robert C. Win-
throp, who so well
sustained the reputa-
tion of his distinguished ancestors ; Hamilton Fish,
the representative Knickerbocker from the State of
New York ; Alexander Ramsey, a worthy descendant
of the Pennsylvania Dutchmen ; the loquacious Gar-
re tt Davis, of Kentucky ; the emaciated Alexander H.
Stephens, of Georgia, who apparently had not a month
to live, yet who rivaled Talleyrand in political intrigue ;
John Wentworth, a tall son of New Hampshire, trans-
planted to the prairies of Illinois ; Andrew Johnson,
HAMILTON FISH.
318 Per ley* s Reminiscences.
of Tennessee, a born demagogue and self-constituted
champion of the people ; John Slidell, of New Orleans 4
Robert Dale Owen, the visionary communist from
Indiana ; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, and Jacob Thomp-
son, of Mississippi, who were busily laying the foun-
dations for the Southern Confederacy, " with slavery
as its corner-stone ;" the brilliant Robert C. Schenck,
of Ohio, and the genial Isaac B. Holmes, of South
Carolina, who softened the asperities of debate by
many kindly comments made in an undertone.
One of General Schenck's stories was told by him
to illustrate the " change of base " by those Whigs
who had enlisted in the Tyler guard, yet declared that
they had not shifted their position. " Many years pre-
vious," he said, " when silk goods were scarce and dear,
an old lady in Ohio purchased a pair of black silk
stockings. Being very proud of this addition to her
dress, she wore them frequently until they became
quite worn out; as often, however, as -a hole appeared
in these choice articles, she very carefully darned it
up ; but for this purpose, having no silk, she was
obliged to use white yarn. She usually appropriated
Saturday evenings to this exercise. Finally, she had
darned them so much that not a single particle of the
original material or color remained. Yet such was the
force of habit with her that as often as Saturday even-
ing came she would say to her granddaughter, 'Anny,
bring me my black silk stockings.' '
The Presidential campaign of 1844 was very exciting.
Mr. Van Buren's friends did not entertain a shadow
of doubt that he would be nominated, and his oppo-
nents in the Democratic ranks had almost lost hope ol
defeating him in the nominating convention, when, at
the suggestion of Mr. Calhoun, he was adroitly ques-
Tyler and Texas. 319
tioned on the annexation of Texas in a letter written
to him by Mr. Hammett, a Representative from Missis-
sippi. Mr. Van Buren was too sagacious a politician
not to discover the pit thus dug for him, and he replied
with great caution, avowing himself in favor of the
annexation of Texas when it could be brought about
peacefully and honorably, but against it at that time,
when it would certainly be followed by war with
Mexico. This was what the Southern conspirators
wanted, and their subsequent action was thus narrated
in a letter written a few years afterward by John Tyler,
which is here published for the first time :
" Texas," wrote Mr. Tyler, " was the great theme
that occupied me. The delegates to the Democratic
Convention, or a very large majority of them, had
been elected under implied pledges to sustain Van
Buren. After his letter repudiating annexation, a
revulsion had become obvious, but how far it was to
operate it was not possible to say. A majority of the
delegates at least were believed still to remain in his
favor. If he was nominated the game to be played for
Texas was all over. What was to be done ?
" My friends," Mr. Tyler went on to say, " advised
me to remain at rest, and take my chances in the
Democratic Convention. It was impossible to do so.
If I suffered my name to be used in that Convention,
then I became bound to sustain the nomination, even
if Mr. Van Buren was the nominee. This could
not be. I chose to run no hazard, but to raise the.
banner of Texas, and convoke my friends to sustain
it. This was but a few weeks before the meeting of
the Convention. To my surprise, the notice which
was thus issued brought together a thousand delegates,
and from every State in the Union. Many called on
320
Perley*s Reminiscences.
me on their way to Baltimore to receive my views.
My instructions were, ' Go to Baltimore, make your
nomination, then go home, and leave the thing to
work its own results.' I said no more, and was
obeyed. The Democratic Convention felt the move.
A Texan man or defeat was the choice left, and they
took a Texan man. My withdrawal at a suitable time
took place, and the result was soon before the world.
I acted to insure the
success of a great mea-
sure, and I acted not
altogether without ef-
fect. In so doing I
kept my own secrets ;
to have divulged my
purposes would have
been to have defeated
them."
The National Whig
Convention assembled
at Baltimore, and
Henry Clay was nomi-
nated with great en-
thusiasm, ex-Senator
Theodore Frelinghuy-
sen, of New Jersey, being nominated as Vice-President.
The next day a hundred thousand Whigs, from every
section of the Republic, met in mass convention at Bal-
timore, with music, banners, and badges, to ratify the
ticket. Mr. Webster, with true magnanimity, was one
of the speakers, and advocated the election of Clay and
Frelinghuysen with all the strength of his eloquence.
The Whigs were jubilant when their chosen leader
again took the field, and the truants flocked back to the
THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN.
Notified at Midnight. 321
standard which they had deserted to support John
Tyler. Harmony once more prevailed among the
leaders and in the ranks, and the Whig party was
again in good working order.
Three weeks later the National Democratic Conven-
tion met at Baltimore and remained in session three
days. A majority of the delegates advocated the nom-
ination of ex-President Van Buren, but he was defeated
by permitting his opponents to pass the two-thirds rule,
and on the third day James K. Polk was nominated.
Silas Wright was nominated as Vice-President, but he
positively declined, saying to his friends that he did
not propose to ride behind on the black pony [slavery]
at the funeral of his slaughtered friend, Mr. Van Buren.
Mr. George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, was then
nominated.
Governor Fairfield, of Maine, on his return from
Philadelphia on the first of June, 1844, whither he had
gone as Chairman of a Committee of the Democratic
Convention to inform Mr. Dallas of his nomination as
Vice-President, gave an amusing account of the scene.
The Committee reached Philadelphia about three
o'clock in the morning, and were piloted to Mr. Dallas'
house by his friend, Senator Robert J. Walker. Loud
knocks at the door brought Mr. Dallas to his chamber
window. Recognizing Mr. Walker, and fearing that
his daughter, who was in Washington, was ill, he has-
tened down-stairs, half dressed and in slippers, when,
to. his utter amazement, in walked sixty or more gen-
tlemen, two by two, with the tread of soldiers, passing
him by and entering his front parlor, all maintaining
the most absolute silence. Mr. Dallas, not having the
slightest conception of their object, stood thunder-
struck at the scene. Mr. Walker then led him into the
21
322
Perley^s Reminiscences.
back parlor. " My dear Walker," said he, in amaze-
ment, " what is the matter?" " Wait one moment, if
you please, Dallas, wait one moment, if you please."
In a few moments the folding-doors connecting the
parlors were thrown back, and in the front parlor
(which had meanwhile been lighted up) Mr. Dallas saw
GEORGE M. DALLAS NOTIFIED OF HIS NOMINATION.
a semi-circle of gentlemen, who greeted him with ap-
plause. Governor Fairfield then stepped forward, and
briefly informed Mr. Dallas what the action of the Con-
vention had been. The candidate for Vice-President,
who had recovered from his momentary surprise, elo-
quently acknowledged the compliment paid him, and
promised to more formally reply by letter. He then
Two Notable Balls. 323
opened his sideboard, and all joined in pledging "suc-
cess to the ticket,"
Mr. Clay unfortunately wrote a Texas letter, which
fell like a wet blanket upon the Whigs, and enabled
the Democratic managers to deprive him of the vote of
New York by organizing the Liberty party, which
nominated James G. Birney, of Michigan, as President,
and Thomas Morris, of Ohio, as Vice-President. This
nomination received the support of the anti-slavery
men, of many disappointed adherents of Mr. Van
Buren, and of the anti-Masonic and anti-rent factions
of the Whig party of New York. The consequence
was that over sixty thousand votes were thrown away
on Birney, nine-tenths of them being drawn from the
Whig ranks, thus securing a complete triumph for the
Democrats.
At the "birthnight ball," on the 2 2d of February,
1845, President Tyler was accompanied by President-
elect Polk. Mrs. Madison also was present with Mrs.
Alexander Hamilton, and the members of the Diplo-
matic Corps wore -their court uniforms. A few nights
afterward President Tyler gave a " parting ball " at the
White House, his young and handsome wife receiving
the guests with distinguished grace. Mr. Polk was
prevented from attending by the indisposition of his
wife, but the Vice-President-elect, Mr. Dallas, with his
splendid crown of white hair, towered above all other
guests except General Scott and " Long John " Went-
worth. There was dancing in the Bast Room, Mrs.
Tyler leading off in the first set of quadrilles with
Mr. Wilkins, the Secretary of War, as her partner.
This entertainment concluded the " Cavalier " reign
within the White House, which was soon ruled with
Puritan austerity by Mrs. Polk.
324
Perley^s Reminiscences.
Near the close of the session of Congress with which
the Administration of John Tyler terminated, a joint
resolution legislating Texas into the Union was intro-
duced. When it had
been passed by the
House after deter-
mined resistance,
it was discussed,
amended, and passed
by the Senate. It
EX-PRESIDENT TYLER LEFT. J
reached the Presi-
dent on the 2d of March, received his immediate ap-
proval, and the next day a messenger was started for
Texas, to have it accepted, and thus secure annexation.
On the morning of the 4th of March, 1845, Mr.
• The Ex-President Left. 325
Tyler left the White House, not caring to assist in the
inauguration of his successor. As the Potomac steamer
was about to swing away from the wharf, which was
crowded with people who were glad to see the ex-Presi-
dent depart, he came along with his family, a squad-
ron of colored servants, and a great lot of luggage.
As they alighted from their carriages at the head of
the wharf the whistle sounded, the boat's bell rang,
and she began slowly to move away. Some one in the
crowd sang out, " Hello ! hello ! Captain, hold on there,
ex-President T3^1er is coming. Hold on !" The cap-
tain, an old Clay Whig, standing near the stern of
the boat on the upper deck, looked over the rail, saw
the Presidential crowd coming, but pulled his engine
bell violently and shouted, " Ex-President Tyler be
dashed ! let him stay." This scene was lithographed
and copies hung for years in many of the saloons and
public houses of Washington.
STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS was born at Brandon, Vermont, April 23d, 1813 ; was a Representa-
tive in Congress from Illinois, 1843-1847 ; was United States Senator from 1847 until his death at
Chicago. June 3d, 1861.
CHAPTER XXV.
RESTORATION OF THE DEMOCRATS.
INAUGURATION OP POLK — HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE — INAUGURA-
TION BALLS — MRS. POLK — SECRETARY BUCHANAN — GOVERNOR
MARCY, OP NEW YORK — COMPLETION OF THE CABINET — THE ORE-
GON DIFFICULTY — THE MEXICAN WAR— A CHANGE OF ORGANIST.
JAMES KNOX POLK was inaugurated as the
eleventh President of the United States on the
4th of March, 1845, a rainv> unpleasant day.
Had any method of contesting a Presidential election
been provided by the Constitution or the laws, the
fraudulent means by which his election was secured
would have been brought forward to prevent his taking
his seat. But the Constitution had made no such pro-
vision, and Congress had not been disposed to inter-
fere ; so Mr. Polk was duly inaugurated with great
pomp, under the direction of the dominant party. A
prominent place was assigned in the inaugural proces-
sion for the Democratic associations of Washington
and other cities. The pugilistic Empire Club from
New York, led by Captain Isaiah Rynders, had with it
a small cannon, which was fired at short intervals as
the procession advanced.
The Chief Marshal of the procession having issued
orders that no carriages should enter the Capitol
grounds, the diplomats were forced to alight at a side
gate in the rain, and to walk through the mud to the
326
Polk?s Inauguration.
327
Senate entrance, damaging their feathered chapeaux
and their embroidered uniforms, to their great dis-
pleasure. Conspicuous in the group around the Presi-
dent was Vice-President Dallas, tall, erect, and digni-
fied, with long, snow-white hair falling over his shoul-
JAMES KNOX POLK.
ders. The President-elect read his inaugural, which
few heard, and when he had concluded Chief Justice
Taney administered the oath of office. As Mr. Polk
reverentially kissed the Bible, the customary salutes
boomed forth at the Navy Yard and at the Arsenal.
328 Perley^s Reminiscences.
The new President was then escorted to the White
House, the rain having made Pennsylvania Avenue so
slippery with mud that not a few of the soldiers fell
ingloriously on the march.
The cry, "Who is James K. Polk?" raised by the
Whigs when he was nominated, was unwarranted, for
he was not an unknown man. He had been a member
of the House from 1825 to 1839, Speaker from 1835
to 1837, and chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means during a portion of his membership. He had
been a Jackson leader in the House, and as such he
had manifested not only zeal and skill as a party
manager, but also substantial qualities of a respect-
able order. It seems certain that Polk was selected by
the Southern Democracy some time before the Conven-
tion met in 1844, and that he was heartily in sympathy
with the movement for conquering a portion of Mexico,
to be made into slave States. Polk entered heartily
into this business, and worked harmoniously with the
instigators of conquest, except that he became self-
willed when his vanity was touched.
President Polk was a spare man, of unpretending
appearance and middle stature, with a rather small
head, a full, angular brow, penetrating dark gray eyes,
and a firm mouth. His hair, which he wore long and
brushed back behind his ears, was touched with silver
when he entered the White House and was gray when
he left it. He was a worthy and well-qualified member
of the fraternity of Freemasons, and a believer in the
creed of the Methodists, although, out of deference to
the religious opinions of his wife, he attended worship
with her at the First Presbyterian Church. Calm, cold,
and intrepid in his moral character, he was ignorant of
the beauty of moral uprightness in the conduct of public
A Presidential Worker.
329
affairs, but was ambitious of power and successful in
the pursuit of it. He was very methodical and re-
markably industrious, always finding time to listen
patiently to the stories of those who came to him as
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
petitioners for patronage and place. But his ardu-
ous labors impaired his health and doubtless shortened
his life. Before his term of office had half expired
his friends were pained to witness his shortened and
330
Per ley* s Reminiscences.
enfeebled step, and the air of languor and exhaustion
which sat upon him.
There were two inauguration balls in honor of the
new President's accession to power — one at ten dol-
lars a ticket, and the other at two dollars. The ten-
dollar ball was at Carusi's saloon, and was attended by
the leaders of Washington society, the Diplomatic
Corps, and many officers of the Army and Navy.
Madame de Bodisco, wife of the Russian Minister, in
a superb court dress, which she had worn while on her
bridal visit to St. Petersburg, attracted much attention,
and contrasted strongly with Mrs. Polk, whose attire
was very plain. The ball at the National Theatre was
more democratic, and was attended by an immense
crowd, whose fight for the supper was emblematical of
the rush and scramble about to be made for the loaves
and fishes of office. When the guests began to depart,
Mrs. Polk. 331
it was found that the best hats, cloaks, and canes had
been taken early in the evening, and there was great
grumbling. Commodore Klliot had his pocket picked
at the White House on inauguration day, the thief de-
priving him of his wallet, which contained several val-
ued relics. One was a letter from General Jackson,
congratulating him on his restoration to his position in
the service, and containing a lock of " Old Hickory's "
hair ; another was a letter from Mrs. Madison, inclos-
ing a lock of Mr. Madison's hair.
Mrs. Polk was a strict Presbyterian, and she shunned
what she regarded as " the vanities of the world "
whenever it was possible for her to do so. She did not
possess the queenly grace of Mrs. Madison or the
warm-hearted hospitality of Mrs. Tyler, but she pre-
sided over the White House with great dignity. She
was of medium height and size, with very black hair,
dark eyes and complexion, and formal yet graceful de-
portment. At the inauguration of her husband she
wore a black silk dress, a long black velvet cloak with
a deep cape, trimmed with fringe and tassels, and a
purple velvet bonnet, trimmed with satin ribbon. Her
usual style of dress was rich, but not showy.
Mrs. Polk would not permit dancing at the White
House, but she did all in her power to render the Ad-
ministration popular. One morning a lady found her
reading. "I have many books presented to me by their
writers," said she, " and I try to read them all ; at
present this is not possible ; but this evening the
author of this book dines with the President, and I
could not be so unkind as to appear wholly ignorant
and unmindful of his gift." At one of her evening re-
ceptions a gentleman remarked, " Madame, you have a
very genteel assemblage to-night." " Sir," replied Mrs.
332 Per ley's Reminiscences.
Polk, with perfect good humor, but very significantly,
" I have never seen it otherwise."
Mr. James Buchanan, the newly appointed Secretary
of State, was at this time in the prime of life, and
his stalwart frame, fair complexion, light bjue eyes,
courtly manners, and scrupulously neat attire prompted
an Bnglish visitor, Mrs. Maury, to say that he re-
sembled a British nobleman of the past generation,
when the grave and dignified bearing of men in
power was regarded as an essential attribute of their
office. Although a bachelor, he kept house on F Street,
next to the abode of John Quincy Adams, where his
accomplished niece presided at his hospitable board.
He faithfully carried out the foreign policy of President
Polk, but never let pass an opportunity for advancing,
with refreshing humility, his own claims to the succes-
sion. In a letter written to a friend he alluded to a
prediction that he would be the next President, and
went on to say : " I or any other man may disappear
from the political arena without producing a ripple
upon the surface of the deep and strong current which
is sweeping the country to its destiny. Nothing has
prevented me from removing myself from the list
of future candidates for the Presidency, except
the injury this might do to the Democratic cause in
Pennsylvania. On this subject I am resolved, and
whenever it may be proper I shall make known my
resolution. Nothing on earth could induce me again
to accept a Cabinet appointment." Yet never did a
wily politician more industriously plot and plan to
secure a nomination than Mr. Buchanan did, in his
still-hunt for the Presidency.
William Learned Marcy, the Secretary of War, was
the " wheel-horse " of President Folk's Cabinet.
The Cabinet*1 s "Wheel Horse"
333
Heavily built, rather sluggish in his movements, and
always absorbed with some subject, he was not what is
generally termed " companionable," and neither bores
nor office-seekers regarded him as an amiable man.
He used to write his most important dispatches in the
library of" his own house. When thus engaged he
would at once, after breakfast, begin his work and
write till nearly noon, when he would go to the Depart-
ment, receive calls, and
attend to the regular
routine duties of his
position. During
hours of composition
he was so completely
engrossed with the
subject that persons
might enter, go out,
or talk in the same
room without in the
least obtaining his no-
tice. He usually sat
in his dressing-gown,
with an old red hand-
kerchief on the table
before him, and one
could judge of the relative activity of his mind by the
frequency of his application to the snuff-box. In truth,
he was an inveterate snuff-taker, and his immoderate
consumption of that article appeared to have injuriously
affected his voice.
President Polk, anxious to placate his defeated rival,
Mr. Van Buren, tendered the appointment of Secretary
of the Treasury to Silas Wright. He declined it, hav-
ing been elected Governor of the State of New York,
WILLIAM LEARNED MARCY.
334
Perley^s Reminiscences.
but recommended for the position Mr. A. C. Flagg..
Governor Marcy objected to the appointment of Mr.
Flagg, then to the appointment of Mr. George Ban-
croft, the historian, and finally accepted himself the
place of Secretary of War. Mr. Robert J. Walker, a
Pennsylvanian by birth and a Mississippian by adop-
tion, who had in the United States Senate advocated
the admission of Texas and opposed the protection of
American industries
by a high tariff, was
made Secretary of the
Treasury. Mr. George
Bancroft was appoint-
ed Secretary of the
Navy, and Cave John-
son, of Tennessee,.
Postmaster-General.
Mr. John Y. Mason,,
who had been the Sec-
retary of the Navy in
Tyler's Cabinet, was
retained by Polk as
his Attorney-General,
having made earnest
appeals that he might
not be disturbed. He wrote to an influential friend
at Washington that he desired to remain in office
on account of his financial wants. " Imprudence
amounting to infatuation," he went on to say, " while
in Congress, embarrassed me, and I am barely re-
covering from it. The place is congenial to my feel-
ings, and the salary will assist Virginia land and
negroes in educating six daughters. Although I still
own a large estate, and am perfectly temperate in my
ROBERT J. WALKER.
Marcy versus Mason. 335
habits, I have felt that the folly of my conduct in
another respect may have led to the report that I was
a sot — an unfounded rumor, which originated with a
Richmond paper." Governor Marcy used to joke Mr.
Mason a good deal on the forwardness of the Old
Dominion, the mother of Presidents, in urging the
claims of her children for Federal office — a propensity
which was amusingly illustrated at a private dinner
where they were both in attendance. " How strange
it is, Mason," said he, " that out of the thousands of
fat appointments we have had to make, there is not
one that Virginia does not furnish a candidate for, and
that every candidate is backed up by the strongest
testimonials that he was expressly educated for that
particular post!" Mason bore the joke very well,
contenting himself with the observation that the people
of the United States seemed to know where to look for
great men.
Mr. Polk had been elected President on the platform
of " the whole of Oregon or none," and " 54° 40', or
fight." But Mr. McLean, who was sent to Bngland,.
negotiated a treaty fixing the boundary at 49°, and " 54°
40' " was abandoned without the promised fight.
Another troublesome legacy inherited by John Tylei
was not so easily arranged, and the Mexican War was
inaugurated. To the more intelligent portion of the
Northern Whigs the contest was repulsive, and the
manner in which it was used for the advancement of
Democratic politicians was revolting. But few forgot
their allegiance to this country in the face of the
enemy. Congress, repeatedly appealed to by the Presi-
dent, voted men and money without stint to secure
the national success and to maintain the national
honor. Whig States, which, like Massachusetts, had
Perley^s Reminiscences.
no sympathy for the war, contributed the bravest of
their sons, many of whom, like a son of Daniel
Webster, fell victims to Mexican malaria or Mexican
bullets.
While President Polk endeavored to gratify each of
the component factions of the Democratic party in the
composition of his Cabinet, he ruthlessly deposed the
veteran Francis P. Blair from the editorship of the
Globe to gratify the chivalry of South Carolina, who
made it the condition upon which he could receive the
electoral vote of their State, then in the hands of
the General Assembly, and controlled by the politi-
cians. Blair & Rives had loaned ten thousand dol-
lars to General Jackson, who was very indignant
when he learned that his old friends were to be shelved,
but the Nullifiers were inexorable. The Globe ceased
to be the editorial organ of the Administration, and
" Father Ritchie," who had for many years edited the
Richmond Inquirer, was invited to Washington, where
he established the Union, which became the mouth-
piece of President Polk. " The Globe" says Colonel
Benton, "was sold and was paid for; it was paid for
out of public money — the same fifty thousand dollars
which were removed to the village bank at Middletown,
in the interior of Pennsylvania. Three annual install-
ments made the payment, and the Treasury did not
reclaim the money for three years."
The first congressional assembly attended by Presi-
dent Polk was graced by the presence of General
Felix Grundy McConnell, of Alabama, who appeared
arrayed in a blue swallow-tailed coat, light cassimere
pantaloons, and a scarlet waistcoat. His female ac-
quaintances at Washington not being very numerous,
he had invited to accompany him two good-looking
An Embarrassment. 337
French milliner girls from a shop in the lower story
of the house in which he boarded. The young women
were dressed as near to the Parisian style of ball dress
as their means would permit, and the trio attracted
much attention as they promenaded the hall. When
the President arrived, the General marched directly to
him, and exclaimed in his stentorian voice : " Mr.
Polk, allow me the honor of introducing to you my
beautiful young friend, Mamselle — Mamselle — Mam-
selle — parley vous Francais — whose name I have for-
gotten !" Then, turning to the other lady, he asked,
" Will you introduce your friend ?" The President,
seeing General Mac's embarrassment, relieved him by
shaking hands cordially with each of the young ladies.
JAMES KNOX POLK was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, November 26, 1795 ; was
a Representative in Congress from Tennessee, 1825-1839 ; was Governor of Tennessee, 1839 > was
President of the United States, 1845-1849, and died at Nashville, Tennessee, June isth, 1849.
22
CHAPTER XXVI.
DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
WASHINGTON SOCIETY — AN OLD WHIG SUPPER — DEATH OP JOHN
QUINCY ADAMS — ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN THE HOUSE — JEFFERSON
DAVIS A REPRESENTATIVE — THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION — LEWIS
CASS, OF MICHIGAN — THE WHIG CONVENTION— DANIEL WEBSTER
AND HENRY CLAY — NOMINATION OF GENERAL TAYLOR — LETTER
OF ACCEPTANCE — THE FREE-SOIL MOVEMENT — INCEPTION OF THE:
GREAT CONSPIRACY.
THE metropolis was not very gay during the
latter portion of Mr. Folk's Administration.
There were the usual receptions at the White
House, and at several of the foreign legations the
allowance of "table money" was judiciously ex-
pended, but there were not many large evening parties
or balls. One notable social event was the marriage
of Colonel Benton's daughter Sarah to Mr. Jacob, of
Louisville. The bridegroom's family was related to
the Taylors and the Clays, so Henry Clay, who had
been re-elected to the Senate, was present, and escorted
the bride to the supper-table. There was a large
attendance of Congressmen, diplomats, and officials,
but the absence of officers of the army and navy, gen-
erally so prominent at a Washington entertainment,
was noticeable. They were in Mexico.
Another interesting entertainment was given by
Colonel Seaton, at his mansion on E Street, to the
Whig members of Congress and the journalists. The
338
Reunion at Colonel Seatorfs. 339
first homage of nearly all, as they entered, was paid to
John Quincy Adams, who sat upon a sofa, his form
slightly bowed by time, his eyes weeping, and a calm
seriousness in his expression. Daniel Webster was
not present, having that day received intelligence of
the death of his son Edward, who was major of a
Massachusetts regiment, and died in Mexico of camp-
fever. Henry Clay, however, was there, with kind
words and pleasant
smiles for all his
friends. Crittenden,
Corwin, and other
Whig Senatorial pala-
dins were present, and
Mr. Speaker Win-
throp,that perfect gen-
tleman and able pre-
siding officer, headed
a host of talented Rep-
resentatives. Commo-
dore Stockton and
General Jones repre-
sented the Army and
Navy, while Hrastus
J ' ROBERT F. STOCKTON.
Brooks and Charles
Lanman appeared for the press. There was a sumptuous
collation, with much drinking of healths and many
pledges to the success of the Whig cause.
The reunion at Colonel Seaton's was on Friday
night, February i8th, 1848. The following Sunday
John Quincy Adams attended public worship at the
Capitol, and on Monday, the 2ist, he was, as usual, in
his seat when the House was called to order. During
the preliminary business he was engaged in copying a
340
Per lev* s Reminiscences.
poetical invocation to the muse of history for one of
the officials, and he appeared to be in ordinarily good
health. A resolve of thanks to the generals of the
Mexican War came np, and the clerk had read, " Re-
solved by the House that " — when he was arrested by
the cry of " Look to Mr. Adams !" Mr. David Fisher,
'THE LAST OF EARTH.
of Ohio, who occupied the desk on Mr. Adams' right,
saw him rise as if he intended to speak ; then clutch
his desk with a convulsive effort, and sink back into
his chair. Mr. Fisher caught him in his arms, and in
an instant Dr. Fries and Dr. Nes, both members, were
At his side.
It was a solemn moment, for a cry went from more
" The Last of Earth." 341
than one, "Mr. Adams is dying!" It was thought
that, like Pitt, he would give up the ghost, "with
harness on," on the spot which his eloquence had
hallowed. "Stand back!1' "Give him air!" "Re-
move him !" Every one seemed panic-struck except
Mr. Speaker Winthrop, who quietly adjourned the
House, and had his insensible colleague removed on a
sofa — first into the rotunda, and then into the Speaker's
room. Cupping, mustard poultices, and friction were
resorted to, and about an hour after his attack Mr.
Adams said, " This is the last of earth, but I am con-
tent." He then fell into a deep slumber, from which
he never awoke. Mrs. Adams and other relatives were
with him, and among the visitors was Henry Clay,
who stood for some time with the old patriarch's hand
clasped in his, and gazed intently on the calm but
vacant countenance, his own eyes filled with tears.
Mr. Adams lingered until the evening of the 23d of
February, when he breathed his last. The funeral
services were very imposing, and a committee of one
from each State accompanied the remains to Boston,
where they lay in state at Faneuil Hall, and were
then taken to Quincy for interment. The Committee
returned to Washington enthusiastic over the hospi-
talities extended to them while they were in Massa-
chusetts.
Abraham Lincoln was a member of the last Congress
during the Polk Administration. He made no mark
as a legislator, but he established his reputation as a
story-teller, and he was to be found every morning in
the post-office of the House charming a small audience
with his quaint anecdotes. Among other incidents of
his own life which he used to narrate was his military
service in the Black Hawk War, when he was a cap-
342 Perley^s Reminiscences.
tain of volunteers. He was mustered into service by
Jefferson Davis, then a lieutenant of dragoons, sta-
tioned at Fort Dixon, which was near the present town
of Dixon, Illinois, and was under the command of
Colonel Zachary Taylor. Mr. Lincoln served only one
term, and before its expiration he began to take steps
for appointment as Commissioner of the General Land-
office, two years afterward, should the Whigs then
come into power. A number of prominent Whig Sena-
tors and Representatives indorsed his application, but
he was not successful.
Mr. Lincoln made but one long speech while a mem-
ber of the House of Representatives, and that was a
reply to Mr. Iverson, a Democratic Representative
from Georgia, who denounced the Whigs for having
deserted their financial, internal improvement, and
tariff principles to take " shelter under the military
coat tails of General Taylor," who was evidently to be
their Presidential candidate. Mr. Lincoln had the
floor for the next speech, and with his characteristic
readiness of wit, made a telling reply.
Jefferson Davis was a Representative from Missis-
sippi until he resigned to accept the command of a
regiment of riflemen, which rendered gallant services
at Buena Vista, under his father-in-law, General Tay-
lor, with whom he was not at that time on speaking
terms. In appearance his erect bearing recalled his
service as an officer of dragoons, while his square
shoulders and muscular frame gave proof of a train-
ing at West Point. His high forehead was shaded
by masses of dark hair, in which the silvery threads
began to show; his eyes were a bluish-gray, his cheek-
bones prominent, his nose aquiline, and he had a large,
expressive mouth. He was an ardent supporter of
344
Perley*s Reminiscences.
State sovereignty and of Southern rights, and he was
very severe on those Congressmen from the slave-
holding States who were advocates of the Union,
especially Mr. A. H. Stephens, whom he denounced as
" the little pale star from Georgia."
The Democratic National Convention met at Balti-
more on the 22d of May, 1848. There was a pro-
longed contest over the rival claims of delegates from
New York, terminated
by the admission of
the "hards." General
James M. Commander,
the solitary delegate
from South Carolina,
was authorized to cast
the nine votes of that
State. The two-thirds
rule was adopted, and
on the fourth day of
the convention, Lewis
Cass,of Michigan, was
nominated on the
fourth ballot, defeating
James Buchanan and
Levi Woodbury. Hav-
ing nominated a Northern candidate, a Southern plat-
form was adopted, which covered the entire ground of
non-interference with the rights of slave-holders, either
in the States or Territories.
General Cass was then in the sixty-sixth year of
his age, and had passed forty years in the public
service. His knowledge was ample but not profound.
He was ignorant on no subject, and was deeply versed
on none. The world to him was but a playhousej
ALEXANDER H. STEVENS.
Clay Rejected. 345
and that drama with him was best which was best per-
formed.
When the Whig National Convention met at Phila-
delphia, on the yth of June, there was a bitter feeling;
between the respective friends of Webster and Clay>
but they were all doomed to disappointment. The
Northern delegates to the Whig National Convention
might have nominated either Webster, Clay, Scott, or
Corwin, as they had a majority of fifty-six over the
delegates from the Southern States, and cast twenty-
nine votes more than was necessary to choose a candi-
date. But they refused to unite on any one, and on
the fourth ballot sixty-nine of them voted with the
Southern Whigs and secured the nomination of Zach-
ary Taylor. While the friends of Mr. Clay made a
desperate rally in his behalf, knowing that it was his
last chance, some of those who had smarted under the
lash which he wielded so unsparingly in the Senate re-
joiced over his defeat. "Thank Providence!" exclaimed!
ex-Senator Archer, of Virginia, "we have got rid of the
old tyrant at last."
As the Whig National Convention had adjourned
without passing a single declaration of the party's
principles, General Taylor's letter of acceptance was
awaited with intense interest. It was believed
that he would outline some policy which would be
accepted and which would unite the Whig party. A
month elapsed, and no letter of acceptance was received
by Governor Morehead, who had presided over the
Convention, but the Postmaster at Baton Rouge, where
General Taylor lived, addressed the Postmaster-General
a letter, saying that with the report for the current
quarter from that office, two bundles of letters were
forwarded for the Dead-Letter Office, they having been
246 Perley^s Reminiscences.
declined on account of the non-payment of the postage
by the senders. It was in the ten-cent and non-prepay-
ment time. Of the forty-eight letters thus forwarded
to the Dead-Letter Office, the Baton Rouge Postmaster
said a majority were addressed to General Taylor, who
had declined to pay the postage on them and take them
out of the office, because his mail expenses had become
burdensome. The General had since become aware
that some of the letters were of importance, and asked
for their return. In due course, the letters were sent
back to Baton Rouge, and among them was Governor
Morehead's letter notifying the General of the action of
the Philadelphia Convention.
General Taylor's letter of acceptance was thus dated
a month and five days after the letter of notification
had been written. It was " short and sweet." He ex-
pressed his thanks for the nomination, said he did not
seek it, and that if he were elected President, for which
position he did not think he possessed the requisite
qualifications, he would do his best. He discussed
nothing, laid down no principles, and gave no indica-
tions of the course he would pursue. Thurlow Weed,
who had assumed the direction of the Whig campaign,
was not satisfied with this letter, and sent the draft of
another one, more explicit, and indorsed by Mr. Fill-
more. This General Taylor had copied, and signed
it as a letter addressed to his kinsman, Captain Alli-
son. In it he pledged himself fully to Whig princi-
ples, and it was made the basis of an effective cam-
paign.
Mr. Webster, who at first denounced the nomination
as one " not fit to be made," was induced, by the pay-
ment of a considerable sum of money, to make a
speech in favor of the ticket. Nathaniel P. Willis
Van Buren and Adams.
347
wrote a stirring campaign song, and at the request of
Thurlow Weed, the writer of these reminiscences wrote
a campaign life of the General, large editions of which
were published at Boston and at Albany for gratuitous
distribution. It ignored the General's views on the
anti-slavery question. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts
Abolitionists and ultra-Webster men, with the Barn-
burner wing of the Democratic party in New York,
and several other dis-
affected factions, met
in convention at Buf-
falo. They there nom-
inated Martin Van Bu-
ren for President and
Mr. Charles Francis
Adams for Vice-Presi-
dent, and adopted as a
motto, " Free Speech,
Free Soil, Free Labor,
and Free Men." This
party attracted enough
votes from the Demo-
cratic ticket in the
State of New York to
secure the triumph of
the Whigs, and Martin Van Buren, who had been de-
feated by the Southern Democrats, had in return the
satisfaction of effecting their defeat.
Mr. Calhoun, soured by his successive failures, but
not instructed by them, sought revenge. " The last
days of Mr. Folk's Administration," says Colonel Ben-
ton, " were witness to an ominous movement, nothing
less than nightly meetings of large numbers of mem-
bers from the slave States to consider the state of
THURLOW WEED.
348 Perley^s Reminiscences.
things between the North and the South, to show the
aggressions and encroachments (as they were called)
of the former upon the latter, to show the incompati-
bility of their union, and to devise measures for the
defense and protection of the South."
HENRY STUART FOOTS was born iu Fauquier County, Virginia, September 2oth, 1800 ; commenced
the practice of law at Tuscumbia, Alabama, and removed to Mississippi ; was United States Senator,
1847-1852 ; was Governor of Mississippi, 1852-1854, and died May igth, 1880.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MAKING THE MOST OF POWER.
PRESIDENT TAYLOR AND HIS PRIVATE SECRETARY— SELECTION OF THE
TAYLOR CABINET — THE TAYLOR FAMILY— JEFFERSON DAVIS — INAUGU-
RATION CEREMONIES— OFFICE SEEKERS— PATRONAGE AND SPOILS —
THE GALPHIN, GARDINER, AND OTHER CLAIMS — THE TAYLOR ADMIN-
ISTRATION—THE WHITE HOUSE.
GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR was, of all
who have filled the Presidential chair by the
choice of the people, the man least competent
to perform its duties. He had been placed before his
countrymen as a candidate in spite of his repeated
avowals of incapacity, inexperience, and repugnance
to all civil duties. Although sixty-four years of age,
he had never exercised the right of suffrage, and he
was well aware that he was elected solely because of
his military prowess. But no sooner did he learn that
he had been chosen President than he displayed the
same .invincible courage, practical sense, and indomi-
table energy in the discharge of his new and arduous
civil duties which had characterized his military career.
The President-elect was fortunate in having as a
companion, counselor, and friend Colonel William
Wallace Bliss, who had served as his chief of staff in
the Mexican campaign, and who became the husband
of his favorite daughter, Miss Betty. Colonel Bliss
was the son of Captain Bliss, of the regular army, and
after having been reared in the State of New York he
349
350
Perley*s Reminiscences.
was graduated at West Point, where he served after-
ward as acting professor of mathematics.
On his way to Washington from his Louisiana plan-
tation, General Taylor visited Frankfort, and person-
ally invited Mr. John J. Crittcnden, then Governor of
ZACHARY TAYLOR.
Kentucky, to become his Secretary of State. Governor
Crittenden declined, and General Taylor then tele-
graphed to Mr. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, tender-
ing him the position, which that gentleman promptly
accepted.
Mr. Abbott L/awrence, of Boston, solicited the ap-
More Cabinet Making.
35*
pointment of Secretary of the Treasury, and was offered
the Navy Department, which he declined. Mr. Robert
Toombs, supported by Representative Stephens and
Senator Dawson, succeeded in having Mr. George W.
Crawford, of Georgia, appointed Secretary of War.
Mr. William M. Meredith, of Pennsylvania, was rather
forced upon General Taylor as Secretary of the Treas-
ury by Mr. Clayton and other Whigs, partly on ac-
count of his acknowl-
edged talents, but
chiefly to exclude ob-
jectionable Pennsyl-
vanians, among them
Mr. Josiah Randall,
who, more than any
other, had contributed
to the nomination and
election of the Gene-
ral. A contest between
Messrs. Corwin and
Viiiton, of Ohio, for a
seat in the Cabinet
was settled by the
appointment of Mr.
Thomas Ewing, of that
State, as Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Jacob Collamer,
of Vermont, who had been an unsuccessful competitor
with Mr. Upham for a seat in the Senate, and had been
recommended by the Legislature of his State as Attor-
ney-General, was made Postmaster-General.
General Taylor came to Washington impressed with
the idea that he was politically indebted to George
Lunt, of Massachusetts, and William Ballard Preston,
of Virginia. He appointed Mr. Lunt District Attor-
THOMAS EWING.
Per ley's Reminiscences.
ney for the district of Massachusetts, and it was soon
understood that he proposed to invite Mr. Preston to a
seat in his Cabinet as Attorney-General. The Whig
Senators remonstrated, urging Preston's lack of great
legal ability and learning, but all to no purpose.
Finally Senator Archer, of Virginia, called and asked
if there was any foundation for the report that his
friend Preston was to be made Attorney-General.
"Yes!" answered Gen-
eral Taylor, " I have
determined on that ap-
pointment." "Are you
aware, General," said
the Senator, " that the
Attorney -General
must represent the
Government in the Su-
preme Court?" "Of
course ! ' ' responded the
General. " But do
youknowthat he must
there meet Daniel
Webster, Reverdy
Johnson, and other
leading lawyers ?"
"Certainly. What of that?" "Nothing, General,
except that they will make a blank fool of your Attor-
ney-General." The Virginia Senator then took his
leave, and the next morning's papers contained the an-
nouncement that the President had decided to appoint
Mr. Preston Secretary of the Navy, and Mr. Reverdy
Johnson Attorney-General.
Mrs. Taylor regretted the election of her husband,
and came to Washington with a heavy heart. She
REVERDY JOHNSON.
Taylors Inauguration. 353
was a native of Calvert County, Maryland, and was
born on the estate where the father of Mrs. John
Quincy Adams had formerly resided. Her father, Mr.
Walter Smith, was a highly respectable farmer, and
her brother, Major Richard Smith, of the Marine Corps,
was well remembered at Washington for his gallant
bearing and his social qualities. The eldest daughter
of General Taylor had married Mr. Jefferson Davis. A
second daughter was the wife of Dr. Wood, of the
army, who was at that time stationed at Baltimore, as
was General Taylor's brother, Colonel Taylor. Mrs.
Taylor, with her younger daughter, Mrs. Bliss, went
directly from Louisiana to Baltimore some weeks prior
to the inauguration. They broke up housekeeping at
Baton Rouge, and took with them William Oldham, a
faithful colored man, who had been the body-servant of
General Taylor for many years, the parade horse,
" Old Whitey," which he had ridden in the Mexican
campaign, and a favorite dog.
General Taylor was inaugurated on Monday, M^ch
5th. He was escorted from Willard's Hotel by an
imposing procession, headed by twelve volunteer com-
panies. The President-elect rode in an open carriage
drawn by four gray horses, and he was joined at the
Irving House by President Polk, who sat at his right
hand. One hundred young gentlemen, residents of
the District of Columbia, mounted on spirited horses,
formed a body-guard, and kept the crowd from pressing
around the President's carriage. Then came the
" Rough-and-Ready " clubs of Washington, George-
town, Alexandria, and Baltimore, with banners, badges,
and music, while the students of the Georgetown Col-
lege brought up the rear.
The personal appearance of General Taylor as he
23
354
Per ley s Reminiscences.
read his inaugural address from a platform erected in
front of the eastern portico of the Capitol was not
imposing. His figure was somewhat portly, and his
legs were short ; his thin, gray hair was unbrushed ;
his whiskers were of the military cut then prescribed ;
his features were weather-bronzed and care-furrowed,
and he read almost inaudibly. It was evident, how-
ever, that he was a popular favorite, and when he had
concluded the vociferous cheering of the assembled
NEW COLLEGE OF GEORGETOWN.
thousands was answered by the firing of cannon and
the music of the bands. His praises were on all lips,
and his soubriquets of " Rough and Ready " and " Old
Zach." were sounded with all honor.
The inaugural message showed that General Taylor
regarded the Union as in danger, and that he intended
to use every possible exertion for its preservation. Mr.
Calhoun had requested, through Mr. Clayton, that
nothing should be said in the inaugural on this subject,
which had prompted the addition of a paragraph, in
which the incoming President declared that a dissolu-
tion of the Union would be the greatest of calamities,
What one Bone Does. 355
and went on to say : " Whatever dangers may threaten
it, I shall stand by it, and maintain it in its integrity,
to the full extent of the obligations imposed and the
power conferred upon me by the Constitution."
In December, 1849, when Congress assembled, the
President aroused the violent opposition of Southern
members by recommending, in his message, that Cali-
fornia be admitted as a free State, and that the remain-
ing Territories be allowed to form Constitutions to suit
themselves. So indignant were some of the Southern-
ers that the dissolution of the Union was openly
threatened. To allay this agitation Clay's comprom-
ise measures were proposed, but Taylor did not live to
see the bill passed.
The horde of office-seekers which invaded Washing-
ton after the inauguration of President Taylor recalled
the saying of John Randolph, when it was asserted
that the patronage of the Federal Government was
overrated ; " I know," said the sarcastic Virginian,
" that it may be overrated.; I know that we cannot
give to those who apply offices equal to their expec-
tations ; and I also know that with one bone I can call
five hundred dogs." The Democratic motto, that " To
the victors belong the spoils/' was adopted by the
Taylor Administration. Unexceptionable men were re-
moved from office, that their places might be filled
with officers of Rough and Ready clubs or partisan
orators. Veterans like General Armstrong, and even
the gifted Hawthorne, were " rotated " without mercy
from the offices which they held. In the Post-Office
Department alone, where Mr. Fitz Henry Warren, as
Assistant Postmaster-General, worked the political guil-
lotine, there were three thousand four hundred and six
removals during the first year of the Taylor Adminis-
356 Per iey 's Reminiscences.
tration, besides many hundred clerks and employees in
the post-offices of the larger cities.
In the dispensation of " patronage " there was a dis-
play of shameless nepotism. A brother-in-law of Sen-
ator Webster was made Navy Agent at New York.
Sons of Senators Crittenden, Clay, and Davis received
important appointments abroad, and the son-in-law of
Senator Calhoun was retained in the diplomatic service.
Two sons-in-law of Senator Benton were offered high
places. A nephew of Senator Truman Smith was
made one of the United States Judges in Minnesota,
and a nephew of Secretary Clayton was made purser
at the Washington Nayy Yard. The assurance of the
President that he had "no friends to reward " was
apparently forgotten, and he was hedged in by a little
circle of executive councilors, who ruled all things.
While the Administration was profligate in its abuse
of patronage, the conduct of several of the Secretaries
was such as to give the President great uneasiness as
he became acquainted with what was going on. Old
claims were revived, approved by the Secretaries, and
paid. Prominent among them was the Galphin claim,
the Chickasaw claim, the De la Francia claim, the Gardi-
ner claim, and many others. From the Galphin claim
Mr. Crawford, Secretary of War, received as his share
one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. The law-
yers in Congress declared that the Secretary acted
professionally, but others censured him severely.
Judge Cartter, then a Representative from Ohio, was
severe in his comments on the monstrous corruption of
the allowance of interest, the payment of which he
said that he disliked " both as an exaction on the part
of the capitalists, and on account of its origin with the
Jews, who killed the Saviour."
Old Zach's Appearance.
357
President Taylor, although a Southerner by birth
and a slave-owner, took prompt steps to thwart the
schemes of Mr. Calhoun and his fellow-conspira-
tors. Military officers
were ordered to California,
Utah, and New Mexico,
which had no govern-
ments but lynch law; and
the people of the last-
named province, which
had been settled two hun-
dred years before Texas /!
asserted her indepen- J
dence, were assured that j/
her domain would be
guaranteed by the United
States against the claim
of the Lone Star State.
Socially, President Tay-
lor enjoyed himself, and
he used to take morning
walks through the streets
of Washington, wearing
a high black silk hat
perched on the back of
his head, and a suit of
black broadcloth, much
too large for him, but
made in obedience to his
orders, that he might be
ATA -i PRESIDENT TAYLOR ON THE STREET.
comfortable. Mrs. Taylor
used to sit patiently all day in her room, plying her
knitting-needles, and occasionally, it was said, smok-
ing her pipe. Mrs. Bliss was an excellent housekeeper,
358 Per ley? s Reminiscences.
and the introduction of gas into the Executive Man-
sion, with new furniture and carpets, enabled her to
give it a more creditable appearance. It was said that
she did the honors of the establishment " with the art-
lessness of a rustic belle and the grace of a duchess."
General Taylor found it difficult to accustom himself
to the etiquette and the restraint of his new position.
One day when the bachelor ex-Secretary of State called
with a number of fair Pennsylvania friends to present
them to the President, General Taylor remarked, " Ah !
Mr. Buchanan, you always pick out the prettiest
ladies !" " Why, Mr. President," was the courtly
reply, " I know that your taste and mine agree in that
respect." " Yes," said General Taylor, " but I have
been so long among Indians and Mexicans that I
hardly know how to behave myself, surrounded by so
many lovely women."
ZACHARY TAYLOR was born in Orange County, Virginia, November 24th, 1784 ; never cast a vote
or held a civil office until he was inaugurated as President, March 5th, 1849 ; died at the White
House, after a few days' illness, July gth, 1850.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE GREAT COMPROMISE DEBATE.
STORMY SCENES AT THE CAPITOL,— CRIMINATION AND RECRIMINATION-
TAYLOR'S ONLY MESSAGE— RETURN OF MR. CLAY TO THE SENATE —
THE GREAT COMPROMISE DEBATE — WEBSTER'S SEVENTH OF MARCH
SPEECH— THE LAST DAYS OF CALHOUN— JEFFERSON DAVIS' LEADER-
SHIP -JOHN P. HALE, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
THE Thirty-first Congress, which met on the first
Monday in the December following the inaug-
uration of President Taylor, contained many
able statesmen of national prominence. The organiza-
tion of the House was a difficult task, nine " free-soil "
or anti-slavery Whigs from the North, and six " State-
rights " or pro-slavery Whigs from the South, refusing
to vote for that accomplished gentleman, Mr. Robert
C. Winthrop, who was the Whig candidate for Speaker.
On the first ballot, Howell Cobb, of Georgia, had one
hundred and three votes, against ninety-six votes for
Robert C. Winthrop, eight votes for David Wilmot,
six votes for Meredith P. Gentry, two votes for Horace
Mann, and a number of scattering votes. The tellers
announced that there was no choice, and the balloting
was continued day after day, amid great and increasing
excitement. After the thirty-ninth ballot, Mr. Win-
throp withdrew from the contest, expressing his belief
that the peace and safety of the Union demanded that
an organization of some sort should be effected without
delay.
359
36°
Perley^s Reminiscences.
The Southern Whigs who had opposed Mr.. Win-
throp were vehement and passionate in their denunciation
of the North. " The time has come," said Mr. Toombs,
his black, uncombed hair standing out from his mas-
sive head, as if charged with electricity, his eyes glow-
ing like coals of fire, and his sentences rattling forth
like volleys of musketry — " the time has come," said
he, " when I shall not only utter my opinions, but
make them the basis
of my political action
here. I do not, then,
hesitate to avow before
this House and the
country, and in the
presence of the living
God, that if, by your
legislation, you seek
to drive us from the
Territories of Califor-
nia and New Mexico,
and to abolish slavery
in the District of Co-
lumbia, I am for dis-
union; and if my phys-
ical courage be equal
to the maintenance of my convictions of right and duty,
I will devote all I am and all I have on earth to its con-
summation."
Such inflammatory remarks provoked replies, and
after a heated debate Mr. Duer, of New York, remarked
that he " would never, under any circumstances, -vote
to put a man in the Speaker's chair who would, in any
event, advocate or sanction a dissolution of the Union."
This brought a dozen Southerners to their feet with
HOWELL COBB.
Bad Blood in the House. 361
angry exclamations, and Mr. Bayly, of Virginia, who*
was near Mr. Duer, said, " There are no disunionists."
" There are !" exclaimed Mr. Duer. " Name one !"
shouted Mr. Bayly. At that moment Mr. Meade, of
Virginia, rose and passed directly before Mr. Duer,
who pointed to him and shouted, " There's one !" " It
is false !" replied Mr. Meade, angrily. " You lie, sir!"
responded Mr. Duer, in tones which rang through the
hall ; and, drawing himself up, he stood unmoved,
while his political friends and foes clustered angrily
about him, every man of them talking and gesticula-
ting most furiously.
Fortunately, Mr. Nathan Sergeant (known as a
newspaper correspondent over the signature of Oliver
Oldschool), who was the Sergeant-at-Arms of the
House, was in his seat at the Speaker's right hand.
Seizing the " mace," which represents the Roman
fasces, or bundle of rods, bound by silver bands and
surmounted by an eagle with outstretched wings,
which is the symbol of the authority of the House, he
hastened to Mr. Duer and stood at his side, as if to pro-
tect him. His official interposition was immediately
respected by all concerned in the disorder, and even the
most tumultuous began at once to subside, so that no
forcible measures were needed to prevent further violence.
Quiet was restored, and the excited Representatives,
one by one, obeyed the sharp raps of the Speaker's
gavel, accompanied by the peremptory order, " Gentle-
men will take their seats." Mr. Duer, who had recov^ '
ered his usual composure, then addressed the Chair,
and having been recognized, apologized to the House
for having been provoked into the use of the unparlia-
mentary expression, but justified himself by referring
to a speech which Mr. Meade had just made and printed,
362 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
which contained disunion sentiments. Mr. Meade
promptly challenged Mr. Duer, who showed no indis-
position to fight, but with some difficulty friends se-
cured an amicable settlement of the quarrel.
Finally, after three weeks of angry recrimination, it
was voted that a plurality should elect, and on the
sixty-second ballot Mr. Howell Cobb, of Georgia, hav-
ing received one hundred and two votes against one
hundred votes for Mr. Winthrop, was declared the
Speaker of the House. He did not have that sense of
personal dignity and importance which belonged to Sir
John Falstaff by reason of his knighthood, but he dis-
played the same rich exuberance of animal enjoyment,
the same roguish twinkle of the eye, and the same in-
dolence which characterized the fat Knight.
President Taylor's first and only message to Con-
gress was transmitted on. the Monday following the or-
ganization of the House, December 24th, and the
printed copies first distributed contained the sentence,
" We are at peace with all the nations of the world
and the rest of mankind." A revised edition was soon
printed, in which the corrected sentence read, "We are
at peace with all the nations of the world, and seek to
maintain our cherished relations of amity with them."
The blunder caused much diversion among the Demo-
crats, and greatly annoyed Colonel Bliss, who, as the
President's private secretary, had superintended the
publication of the message. The message contained
no allusion to the slavery question, but the President
had declared himself in favor of the untrameled admis-
sion of California into the Union, while, on the other
hand, he did not approve the " higher law " doctrines
which Mr. Seward was advocating as a nucleus for a
new political party at the North.
Clay at Seventy-three. 363
Meanwhile, Henry Clay had reappeared at Washing-
ton as a Senator from Kentucky, and occupied his old
quarters at the National Hotel, a large stockholder in
which, Mr. Calvert, of Maryland, was one of Clay's
many friends. Although in his seventy-third year,
Mr. Clay was apparently hale and hearty, but showed
his age. His head, bald on the top, was fringed with
long, iron-gray hair, his cheeks were somewhat sunken,
his nose had a pinched look, but his wide mouth was,
as in years past, wreathed in genial smiles. He always
was dressed in black, and from a high black satin
stock, which enveloped his long neck, emerged a huge
white shirt collar, which reached to his ears. He
mingled in society, generally kissed the prettiest girls
wherever he went, and enjoyed a quiet game of cards
in his own room, with a glass of toddy made from
Bourbon County whisky.
At the commencement of the session Mr. Clay re-
quested that he might be excused from service on any
of the standing committees of the Senate, and his
wish was granted. It was not long, however, before
he evinced a desire to re-enter the arena of debate as a
leader of the Whig party, but not «as a follower of
President Taylor. Presenting a series of resolutions
which would consolidate the settlement of the eight
different questions involving slavery, then before Con-
gress, into what he expected would prove a lasting
compromise, he moved their reference to a select com-
mittee of thirteen, with instructions to report them in
one bill. The Committee was authorized, but not
without opposition, and Mr. Webster's vote secured
for Mr. Clay the chairmanship. A general compro-
mise bill was speedily prepared, and the " battle of the
giants " was recommenced, Clay, Webster, and Cal-
364 Perley^s Reminiscences.
houn engaging for the last time in a gladiatorial strife,
which exhibited the off-hand, genial eloquence of the
Kentuckian, the ponderous strength of the Massachu-
setts Senator, and the concentrated energies of South
Carolina's favorite son. Mr. Clay was the leader in
the debate, which extended over seven months, and
during that time he was ever on the alert, sometimes
delivering a long argument, sometimes eloquently
replying to other Senators, and sometimes suggesting
points to some one who was to speak on his side. Indig-
nant at the treatment which he had received from the
Whig party he stood unsubdued,, and so far from re-
treating from those who had deserted him, he intended
to make the Taylor Administration recall its pledges,
break its promises, and become national, or pro-slavery,
Whigs.
Mr. Webster was equally grieved and saddened by
the faithlessness of Massachusetts men who had in
years past professed friendship for him, but of whose
machinations against him he had obtained proof dur-
ing the preceding autumn. He also ascertained that,
to use the words of Mr. Choate, " the attention of the
public mind beg^n to be drawn a little more directly
to the great question of human freedom and human
slavery." If he responded to the beatings of the New
Hngland heart, and resisted the aggressions and usur-
pations of the slave power, he would have to follow
the lead of the Abolitionists, for whom he had always
expressed a profound contempt. Dejected and de-
pressed, Mr. Webster would at that time have been
glad to take tne mission to Hngland, and thus termi-
nate his career of public service ; but he was defeated
by the claims of Mr. Abbott Lawrence, who, having
been recently disappointed in not receiving the appoint-
Web sterns Forebodings. 365
ment of Secretary of the Treasury, refused to be com-
forted unless he could be the successor of George
Bancroft at the Court of St. James.
Thaddeus Stevens and Joshua R. Giddings asserted,
after the decease of Mr. Webster, that he prepared a
speech, the manuscript of which they had read, which
was a powerful exposition and vindication of Northern
sentiment upon the compromise measures, especially
the fugitive-slave bill. If this was true, he was doubt-
less induced to " change front " by pledges of Southern
support for the Presidency ; but he is reported by
Theodore Parker as having said to a fellow Senator, on
the morning of the yth of March, " I have my doubts
that the speech I am going to make will ruin me." He
should have remembered that he had himself said of
the Emperor Napoleon, " His victories and his triumphs
crumbled to atoms, and inoldered to dry ashes in his
grasp, because he violated the general sense of justice
of mankind."
At this time Webster's far-seeing mind was doubt-
less troubled by the prospects of a bloody civil war, with
the breaking up of the Union he loved so well. He
stood by the old compromises rather than bring on a
sectional conflict, and in his opinion there was no sac-
rifice too great to avert a fratricidal contest. " I speak
to-day," said he, "for the preservation of the. Union!"
His words were in after years the key-notes of many
appeals for the protection and the preservation of the
United States.
Mr. Calhoun's health had gradually failed, and at
last he was supported into the Senate Chamber
wrapped in flannels, like the great Chatham, and
requested that his friend, Senator Mason, might read
some remarks which he had prepared. The request
366
Perley^s Reminiscences.
was, of course, granted, and while Mr. Mason read the
defiant pronunciamiento its author sat wrapped in his
cloak, his eyes glowing with meteor-like brilliancy as
he glanced at Senators upon whom he desired to have
certain passages make an impression. When Mr.
Mason had concluded, Mr. Calhoun was supported
from the Senate and went back to his lodgings at Mr.
CALHOUN'S LAST APPEARANCE IN THE SENATE.
Hill's boarding-house, afterward known as the Old
Capitol, to die.
Mr. Jefferson Davis aspired to the leadership of the
South after the death of Mr. Calhoun, and talked
openly of disunion. " Let the sections," said he, in
the Senate Chamber, " part, like the patriarchs of old,
and let peace and good-will subsist among their de-
scendants. Let no wound be inflicted which time
An Impenetrable Target.
367
cannot heal. Let the flag of our Union be folded up
entire, the thirteen stripes recording the original size
of our family, untorn by the unholy struggles of civil
war, its constellation to remain undimmed, and speak-
ing to those who come after us of the growth and
prosperity of the family whilst it remained united.
Unmutilated, let it lie among the archives of the
Republic, until some future day, when wiser counsels
shall prevail, when
men shall have been
sobered in the school
of adversity, again to
be unfurled over the
continent-wide Repub
lie."
Senator Hale, who,
with Mr. Salmon P.
Chase, was not named
on any of the commit-
tees of the Senate, was
a constant target for JJ
the attacks of the
Southerners, but the
keenest shafts of satire
made no more im-
pression upon him than musket-balls do upon the
hide of a rhinoceros. One day when Senator Clemens
had asserted that the Union was virtually dissolved,
Mr. Hale said, " If this is not a matter too serious for
pleasant illustration, let me give you one. Once in
my life, in the capacity of Justice of the Peace — for I
held that office before I was Senator — I was called on to
officiate in uniting a couple in the bonds of matrimony.
They came up, and I made short work of it. I asked
SALMON P. CHASE.
368
Perley*s Reminiscences.
the man if he would take the woman whom he held by
the hand to be his wedded wife ; and he replied, ' To
be sure I will. I came here to do that very thing.'
I then put the question to the lady whether she would
have the man for her husband. And when she an-
swered in the affirmative, I told them they were man
and wife then. She looked up with apparent aston-
ishment and inquired, 'Is that all?' 'Yes,' said I,
' that is all.' ' Well,' said she, * it is not such a mighty
affair as I expected it to be, after all !' If this Union
is already dissolved, it has produced less commotion in
the act than I expected."
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP was born at Boston, Massachusetts, May izth, 1809; was a Repre-
sentative in Congress from Massachusetts from December 5th, 1842, to July3oth, 1850, when, having
been appointed a United States Senator from Massachusetts, he took his seat in the Senate, serving
until February 7tn, 1851 ; was Speaker of the House during the Thirtieth Congress, and a part of
the Thirty-first Congresi.
CHAPTER XXIX,
\
PROMINENT STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATS.
SAM HOUSTON, OF TEXAS— SEW ARD, OF NEW YORK— BUCHANAN, OF
PENNSYLVANIA — AGRICULTURAL DONATIONS — DIPLOMATIC REPRESEN-
TATIVES—SOCIAL ENJOYMENTS — WINTHROP'S FAREWELL SUPPER— FA-
TAL ILLNESS OF GENERAL TAYLOR— DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT.
A PROMINENT figure at Washington during
the Taylor Administration was General Sam
Houston, a large, imposing-looking man, who
generally wore a waistcoat made from, the skin of a
panther, dressed with the hair on, and who generally
occupied himself during the sessions of the Senate in
whittling small sticks of soft pine wood, which the
Sergeant-at-Arms provided for him. His life had been
one of romantic adventure. After having served with
distinction under General Jackson in the Creek War,
he had become a lawyer, and then Governor of the
State of Tennessee. Soon after his inauguration he
had married an accomplished young lady, to whom he
one day intimated, in jest, that she apparently cared
more for a former lover than she did for him. " You
are correct," said she, earnestly. " I love Mr. Nicker-
• son's little finger better than I do your whole body."
Words ensued, and the next day Houston resigned his
Governorship, went into the Cherokee country, west of
the Arkansas River, adopted the Indian costume, and
became an Indian trader. He was the best customer
supplied from his own whisky barrel, until one day,
24 369
370 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
after a prolonged debauch, he heard from a Texan
Indian that the Mexicans had taken up arms against
their revolted province. A friend agreeing to accom-
pany him, he cast off his Indian attire, again dressed
like a white man, and never drank a drop of any intoxi-
cating beverage afterward. Arriving in Texas at a
critical moment, his gallantry was soon conspicuous,
and in due time he was sent to Washington as United
States Senator. His strong points, however, were
more conspicuous on the field than in the Senate.
William H. Seward entered the Senate when General
Taylor was inaugurated as President, and soon became
the directing spirit of the Administration, although
Colonel Bullit, who had been brought from Louisiana
to edit the Republic, President Taylor's recognized
organ, spoke of him only with supercilious contempt.
Senator Foote sought reputation by insulting him
in public, and was himself taunted by Mr. Calhoun with
the inconsistent fact of intimacy with him in private.
The newly elected Senator from New York persisted in
maintaining amicable relations with his revilers, and
quietly controlled the immense patronage of his State,
none of which was shared by the friends of Vice-Presi-
dent Fillmore. He was not at heart a reformer; he
probably cared but little whether the negro was a slave
or a freeman ; but he sought his own political advance-
ment by advocating in turn anti-Masonry and abolition-
ism, and by politically coquetting with Archbishop
Hughes, of the Roman Catholic Church, • and Henry
Wilson, a leading Know-Nothing. Personally he was
honest, but he was always surrounded by intriguers
and tricksters, some of whose nests he would aid in
feathering. The most unscrupulous lobbyists that
have ever haunted the Capitol were well known as de-
Seward and Buchanan.
371
voted adherents of William H. Seward, and he swayed
them as a sovereign.
Mr. James Buchanan had not shed many tears over
the defeat of his rival, General Cass, and when the
Whigs came into power he retired from the Depart-
ment of State to his rural home, called Wheatland,
SAM HOUSTON WHITTLING IN THE SENATE. ,
near Lancaster, Pa. He used to visit Washington fre-
quently, and was always welcomed in society, where he
made an imposing appearance, although he had the
awkward habit of carrying his head slightly to one
372 Per ley* s Reminiscences.
side, like a poll-parrot. He always attempted to be
facetious, especially when conversing with young
ladies, but when any political question was discussed
in his presence, he was either silent, or expressed him-
self with great circumspection. From his first entry
into the House of Representatives, in 1821, he had
entertained Presidential aspirations, and had sought to
cultivate friendships that would be of service to him in
obtaining the object of his ambition, protesting all the
while that he was indifferent on the subject. After his
retreat to Wheatland he began to secure strength for
the coming National Democratic Convention of 1851,
industriously corresponding with politicians in different
sections of the country, and he was especially attentive
to Mr. Henry A. Wise, with whose aid he hoped to
secure the votes of the delegates from Virginia in the
next National Democratic Convention.
Mr. Wise, recalling the time when he was a power
behind the throne of John Tyler, encouraged Mr.
Buchanan to bid for Southern support, and intimated a
readiness to " coach " him so as to make him a favorite
in the slave States. His counsels were kindly taken,
and in return Mr. Buchanan wrote to the fiery " Lord
of Accomac,". in his most precise handwriting : " Ac-
quire more character for prudence and moderation, and
under the blessing of Heaven you may be almost any-
thing in this country which you desire. There is no
man living whose success in public and in private life
would afford me more sincere pleasure than your own.
You have every advantage. All you have to do is to
go straight ahead, without unnecessarily treading upon
other people's toes. I know you will think, if you
don't say, ' What impudence it is for this childless old
bachelor of sixty years of age to undertake to give me
Tickling the Constituents.
373
advice ! Why don't lie mind his own business?' Gen-
eral Jackson once told me that he knew a man in Ten-
nessee who had got rich by minding his own business ;
but still I urged him, and at last with success, which
he never regretted."
The free distribution of plants and seeds to Con-
gressmen for their favored constituents has made it an
equally easy matter for the Commissioner of Agricul-
ture to obtain liberal appropriations for his Depart-
THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT.
ment and the publication of enormous editions of his
Reports. Indeed, the Bureau of Agriculture has grown
under these fostering influences to one of immense
magnitude, and its beautiful building, erected in Lin-
coln's time, is one of the ornaments of the city. ,
The first of the Agricultural Reports was issued by
Edmund Burke, while he was commissioner of Patents
during the Polk Administration. On the incoming of
the Taylor Administration Mr. Burke was succeeded
374 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
by Thomas Kwbank, of New York City, and Congress
made an appropriation of three thousand five hundred
dollars for the collection of agricultural statistics.
When Mr. Ewbank's report appeared the Southern
Congressmen were (to quote the words used by Senator
Jefferson Davis, in debate) amazed to find that it was
preceded by what he termed " an introduction by
Horace Greeley, a philosopher and philanthropist of
the strong Abolition type." " The simple fact," he
continued, " that Mr. Greeley was employed to write
the introduction is sufficient to damn the work with
me, and render it worthless in my estimation." This
view was held by many other Southerners.
Notwithstanding this fierce denunciation, however,
the public appreciated just such work as had been
undertaken, and so rapid was the growth of interest in
this direction that the Department of Agriculture was
fully organized in 1862. It has continued to issue
immense numbers of Reports, which are standing
objects of jest and complaint, but the fact still remains
that they contain splendid stores of valuable informa-
tion.
Queen Victoria accredited as her Minister Plenipo-
tentiary to President Taylor the Right Honorable
Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, an accomplished diplo-
mat, slender, and apparently in ill health. He was
afterward, for many years, the British Minister at Con-
stantinople, where he defeated the machinations of
Russia, and held in cunning hand the tangled thread
of that delicate puzzle, the Eastern Question. His
private secretary while he was at Washington was his
nephew, Mr. Robert Bulwer (a son of the novelist),
who has since won renown as Lord Lytton, Viceroy
of India, and as the author — Owen Meredith.
Tea-Parties Triumphant.
375
The bitter political discussions at the Capitol dur-
ing the first six months of 1850 prevented much social
enjoyment. There were the customary receptions at
the White House, and " hops " at the hotels, but few
large parties were given. Tea-parties were numerous,
at which a succession of colored waiters carried trays
heaped with different varieties of home-made cakes
TEA-PARTY IN TAYLOR'S TIME.
and tarts, from which the beaux supplied the belles,
and at the same time ministered to their own wants,
balancing a well-loaded plate on one knee, while they
held a cup and saucer, replete with fragrant decoctions
from the Chinese plant u which cheers, but not ine-
briates."
The reigning belles were the queen-like widow
Ashley, of Missouri, who afterward married Senator
376 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Crittenden, and her beautiful daughter, who became
the wife of Mr. Cabell, of Florida. . Mrs. Fremont and
her sisters made the home of their father, Colonel
Benton, very attractive ; General Cass's daughter, who
afterward married the Dutch Minister, had returned
from Paris with many rare works of art, and the pro-
scribed Free-soilers met with a hearty welcome at the
house of Dr. Bailey, editor of the New Era. It was
there that Miss Dodge, better known as Gail Hamilton,
passed her first winter at Washington. She was then
at the entrance of her career of fame as a vigorous
writer, who skillfully grasps a subject and dissects it,
laying bare blatant demagoguery and political in-
trigues, yet clothing her original thoughts in undefiled
English. In after years, when she wintered at Wash-
ington as the guest of her cousin, Mrs. James G.
Blaine, she enjoyed the reputation of being the most
brilliant conversationalist at the metropolis. Such a
distinction, in such society as Washington can justly
boast, is no small honor.
On the evening of the 4th of July, 1850, a large
reception was given by ex-Speaker Winthrop to his
gentleman friends, without distinction of party or
locality. At the supper-table Mr. Winthrop had at
his right hand Vice-President Fillmore, and at his
left hand Mr. Speaker Cobb. Webster and Foote, Ben-
ton and Horace Mann, the members elect from Cali-
fornia, with Clingman and Venable, who were trying ta
keep them out, were seen in genial companionship.
Most of the Cabinet and the President's private secre-
tary, Colonel Bliss, were there, side by side with those
who proposed to impeach them. The only drawback to
the general enjoyment of the occasion was the under-
standing that it was the farewell entertainment of Mr.
Taylor's Last Battle.
377
Winthrop, who had given so many evidences of his
unselfish patriotism and eminent ability, and whose
large experience in public affairs should have entitled
him to the continued confidence of the people of Mas-
sachusetts. President Taylor was absent, and Colonel
'OLD ZACK" ON "OLD WHITEY."
Bliss apologized for his non-attendance, saying that he
was somewhat indisposed.
The old hero had that day sat in the sun at the
Washington Monument during a long spread-eagle
address by Senator Foote, with, a tedious supplemen-
tary harangue by George Washington Parke Custis.
378 Perley^s Reminiscences.
While thus exposed to the midsummer heat for nearly
three hours, he had drank freely of ice-water, and on
his return to the White House he had found a basket
of cherries, of which he partook heartily, drinking at
the same time several goblets of iced milk. After din-
ner he still further feasted on cherries aird iced milk,
against the protestations of Dr. Witherspoon, who was
his guest. When it was time to go to Mr. Winthrop's
he felt ill, and soon afterward he was seized with a
violent attack of cholera morbus. This was on Thurs-
day, but he did not consider himself dangerously ill
until Sunday, when he said to his physician, " In two
days I shall be a dead man." Eminent physicians
were called in, but they could not arrest the bilious
fever which supervened. His mind was clear, and on
Tuesday morning he said to one of the physicians at
his bedside, " You have fought a good fight, but you
cannot make a stand." Soon afterward he murmured,
" I have endeavored to do my duty," and peacefully
breathed his last. His sudden death was immediately
announced by the tolling of the bell in the Department
of State, and in a few moments the funereal knell was
echoed from every church steeple in the district.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD was born at Florida, New York, May i6th, 1801 ; was Governor of Nev
York, 1838-1842; was United States Senator from New York from March 4th, 1849, until he entered
the Cabinet of President Lincoln as Secretary of State, March 5th, 1861 ; remained Secretary of
State under President Johnson until March 3d, 1869; traveled around the world in 1870-1871, and
died at Auburn, New York, October loth, 1872.
CHAPTER XXX.
FILLMORE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
PRESIDENT FILLMORE — FUNERAL OF GENERAL TAYLOR — WEBSTER
AGAIN SECRETARY OF STATE — THE COMPROMISE MEASURES— MRS.
MILLARD FILLMORE— A PROUD FATHER — THE CAPITOL EXTENSION —
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS— WASHINGTON SOCIETY — PUBLIC AMUSE-
MENTS.
ON the tenth of July, 1850, the day after the
death of General Taylor, Mr. Fillmore ap-
peared in the Representatives' Hall at the
Capitol, where both houses of Congress had met in
joint session, took the oath of office, and immediately
left. The new President was then fifty years of age,
of average height, stalwart and rotund of form, with
broad, heavy, florid features, white hair, shrewd, gray
eyes, and dignified yet courteous manners. He had
risen from the humble walks of life, by incessant toil,
to the highest position in the Republic. Always ani-
mated by an indomitable spirit and by that industry
and perseverance which are the sure guarantees of suc-
cess, he was undoubtedly a man of ability, but his
intellect seemed, like that of Lord Bacon, to lack the
complement of heart. A blank in his nature, where
loyalty to the public sentiment of the North should
have been, made him a willing instrument to crush out
the growing determination north of Mason and Dixon's
line that freedom should be national, slavery sectional.
Mr. Fillmore had given satisfaction to the Senators
379
38o
Perley^s Reminiscences.
by the impartial manner in which he had presided as
Vice-President over their deliberations. They had, by
a unanimous vote, approved of his ruling, which re-
versed the decision of Mr. Calhoun, twenty-three years
before, that the Vice-President had no right to call a
MILLARD F1LLMORE.
Senator to order for words spoken in debate, and they
had ordered his explanatory remarks to be entered
upon the journal. By Mr. Seward and Mr. Weed,
however, he was treated with marked contempt, and
under their direction the Taylor Administration had
General Taylor's Funeral. 381
given him the cold shoulder. Even his requests that
two of his personal friends should be appointed Collec-
tor of the Port and Postmaster at Buffalo had been
formally refused, and the places had been given to par-
tisans of Mr. Seward. The unexpected death of Gen-
eral Taylor was an element which even Mr. Seward
had never taken into account, and the first consequence
was undisguised confusion among the supporters of
the Administration. The members of the Cabinet
promptly tendered their resignations, and it was plainly
visible that the sudden removal of the President had
checkmated the plans so carefully made, and forced the
chief player to feel the bitterness of political death.
Mr. Fillmore was known to be amiable in private life,
but it was evident that he would show little regard for
those who had snubbed and slighted him in his less
powerful position.
The remains of the deceased President lay in state
for several days in the East Room at the White House,
and were then interred with great pomp. Religious
services were held at the White House, where the dis-
tinguished men of the nation were grouped around the
coffin. At the funeral there was a large military escort
of regulars and volunteers, commanded by General
Scott, who was mounted on a spirited horse and wore
a richly embroidered uniform, with a high chapeau
crowned with yellow plumes. The ponderous funeral
car was drawn by eight white horses. Behind the car
was led " Old Whitey," the charger ridden by General
Taylor in Mexico. He was a well-made horse, in good
condition, and with head erect, as if inspired by the
clang of martial music, he followed to the grave the
remains of him whom he had so often borne to victory.
When the artillery and infantry fired the parting
382 Per ley's Reminiscences.
salute at the cemetery, the old war-horse pricked up his-
ears and looked around for his rider.
Mr. Fillmore tendered the Secretary of State's port-
folio to Mr. Webster, who promptly accepted it. He
had been assured that if he would advocate the com-
promises he would create a wave of popular sentiment
that would float him into the White House in 1856,
against all opposition, and that no Democratic aspirant
would stand in his way. Believing all this, Mr. Web-
ster had committed himself in his yth of March speech,
and had found that many of his life-long friends and
constituents refused to follow his lead. Faneuil Hall
had been closed to him, and he was glad to escape from
the Senate Chamber into the Department of State. Jef-
ferson, Madison, Monroe, John Quincy Adams, and
Martin Van Buren'had found that Department a con-
venient stepping-stone to the Presidential chair, and,
why should not he ?
Mr. Webster was a great favorite in the Department
of State, for he made no removals, and his generous
and considerate treatment of the clerks won their
affection. His especial favorite was Mr. George J.
Abbott, a native of New Hampshire, who had been
graduated at Hxeter and Cambridge, and had then
come to Washington to take charge of a boys' school.
He was an accomplished classical scholar, and he used
to hunt up Latin quotations applicable to the questions
of the day, which Mr. Webster would commit to mem-
ory and use with effect. His private secretary was
Mr. Charles Lanman, a young gentleman of literary
and artistic tastes, who was a devoted disciple of Isaak
Walton. Mr. Webster and he would often leave the
Department of State for a day of piscatorial enjoyment
at the Great Falls of the Potomac, when the Secretary
Webster as a Fisherman.
383
would throw off public cares and personal pecuniary
troubles to cast his lines with boyish glee, and to
exult loudly when he succeeded in hooking a fish.
Another clerk in the Department who enjoyed Mr.
Webster's esteem was Mr. Zantzinger, the son of a
purser in the Navy, who possessed rare accornplish-
GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC.
ments. Whenever Mr. Webster visited his estates in
New Hampshire or in Massachusetts, he was accom-
panied by one of these gentlemen, who had the charge
of his correspondence, and who, while enjoying his
fullest confidence, contributed largely to his personal
enjoyment.
Mr. Webster's Washington home was a two-story
brick house on Louisiana Avenue, next to the Unita-
rian Church. His dining-room was in the basement
384 Perley's Reminiscences.
story, and it was seldom that he had not friends at his
hospitable table. Monica, the old colored woman, con-
tinued to be his favorite cook, and her soft-shell crabs,
terrapin, fried oysters, and roasted canvas-back ducks
have never been surpassed at Washington, while she
could make a regal Cape Cod chowder, or roast a
Rhode Island turkey, or prepare the old-fashioned New
Hampshire " boiled dinner," which the "expounder of
the Constitution " loved so well. Whenever he had to
work at night, she used to make him a cup of tea in an
old britannia metal teapot, which had been his mother's,
and he used to call this beverage his " Ethiopian nec-
tar." The teapot was purchased of Monica after Mr.
Webster's death by Henry A. Willard, Esq., of Wash-
ington, who presented it to the Continental Museum at
Indian Hill Farm, the author's residence.
Under the influence of the new Administration,
Congress passed the several compromise measures in
Mr. Clay's bill as separate acts. The debate on each
one was marked by acrimony and strong sectional
excitement, and each one was signed by President Fill-
more amid energetic protests from the Northern Abo-
litionists and the Southern Secessionists. The most
important one, which provided for the rendition of fugi-
tive slaves, he referred to Attorney-General Crittenden
before signing it, and received his opinion that it was
constitutional. When it was placed on the statute
book, the Union members of the House of Representa-
tives organized a serenade to President Fillmore and his
Secretary of State, Daniel Webster. The President
bowed his acknowledgments from a window of the
Executive Mansion, but Mr. Webster came out on the
broad doorstep of his home, with a friend on either side
of him holding a candle, and, attired in a dressing
President Fillmore^s Family.
38;
gown, lie commenced a brief speech by saying, " Now
is the summer — no ! Now is the winter of our discon-
tent made glorious summer by this son of York."
This ended the speech also.
The wife of President Fillmore was the daughter of
W HESTER'S RESPONSE.
the Rev.
Lemuel Pow-
ers, a Baptist
clergyman. She was
tall, spare, and graceful,
with auburn hair, light blue
eyes, and a fair complexion.
Before her marriage she had
taught school, and she was
remarkably well-informed, but somewhat reserved in
her intercourse with strangers. She did not come to
Washington until after her husband became President,
and her delicate health prevented her mingling in so-
ciety, though she presided with queenly grace at the
official dinner-parties.
The President's father, " Squire Fillmore," as he
was called, visited his son at the White House. He
25
386 Pcrley^s Reminiscences.
was a venerable-looking, man, tall, and not much bowed
by his eighty years, his full gray hair and intelligent
face attracting much attention. When he was about
to leave, a gentleman asked him why he would not re-
main a few days longer. " No, no !" said the old gen-
tleman, " I will go. I don't like it here ; it isn't a
good place to live ; it isn't a good place for Millard ; I
wish he was at home in Buffalo."
The corner-stone of one of the " extensions " of the
Capitol was laid on the seventy-sixth anniversary of
our national independence, July 4th, 1851, by the fra-
ternity of Free Masons in " due and ample form."
President Fillmore, the Cabinet, the Diplomatic Corps,
several Governors of States, and other distinguished
personages occupied seats on a temporary platform,
which overlooked the place where the corner-stone was
laid, Major B. B. French, Grand Master of Masons of
the District of Columbia, officiating. Mr. Webster
was the orator of the day, and delivered an eloquent,
thoughtful, and patriotic address, although he was evi-
dently somewhat feeble, and was forced to take sips of
strong brandy and water to sustain him as he proceeded.
Among the vast audience were three gentlemen who
had, fifty-eight years previously, seen General Wash-
ington aid his brother Free Masons in laying the corner-
stone of the original Capitol.
Later in that year, the large hall which contained
the library of Congress, occupying the entire western
side of the centre of the Capitol, was destroyed by fire,
with almost all of its valuable contents. The weather
was intensely cold, and, had not the firemen and citi-
zens (including President Fillmore) worked hard, the
entire Capitol would have been destroyed. Congress
soon afterward made liberal appropriations, not only
387
388 Perley*s Reminiscences.
for reconstructing the library of cast-iron, but for the
purchase of books, so that the library soon rose, phoe-
nix-like, from its ashes. But the purchases were made
on the old plan, under the direction of the Congres-
sional Joint Committee on the Library, the Chairman
of which then, and for several previous and subsequent
sessions, was Senator Pearce, of Maryland, a graduate
of Princeton College. There was not in the Library of
Congress a modern encyclopaedia, or a file of a New
York daily newspaper, or of any newspaper except the
venerable daily, National Intelligencer, while DeBow^s
Review was the only American magazine taken, al-
though the London Court Journal was regularly
received, and bound at the close of each successive
year.
Jenny Lind created a great sensation at Washington,
and at her first concert Mr. Webster, who had been
dining out, rose majestically at the end of her first
song and made an imposing bow, which was the signal
for enthusiastic applause. Lola Montez danced in her
peculiar style to an audience equally large, but con-
taining no ladies. Charlotte Cushman appeared as
Meg Merrilies, Parodi and Dempster sang in concerts,
Burton and Brougham convulsed their hearers with
laughter, Booth gave evidence of the undiminished glow
of his fiery genius by his masterly delineation of the
" wayward and techy " Gloster, and Forrest ranted in
Metamora, to the delight of his admirers. Colonel
John W. Forney told a good story about a visit which
he- paid with Forrest to Henry Clay soon after the
passage of the compromise measure. The Colonel
unguardedly complimented a speech made by Senator
Soule, which made Mr. Clay's eyes flash, and he pro-
ceeded to criticise him very severely, ending by say-
Clay and Forrest. 389
ing : " He is nothing but an actor, sir — a mere actor !"
Then, suddenly recollecting the presence of the trage-
dian, he dropped his tone, and turning toward Mr.
Forrest, said, with a graceful gesture, " I mean, my
dear sir, a mere French actor!" The visitors soon
afterward took their leave, and as they descended
the stairs, Forrest turned toward Forney and said,
" Mr. Clay has proved by the skill with which he can
change his manner, and the grace with which he
can make an apology, that he is a better actor than
Scute'."
MILLARD FILLMORE was born at Summer Hill, New York, January yth, 1800 ; was a Represent-
ative in Congress from New York, 1837-1843; was defeated as a Whig candidate for Governor of
New York, 1844 ; was elected State Comptroller, 1847; was elected Vice-President on the Whig
ticket headed by Z. Taylor in 1848, receiving one hundred and thirty-six electoral votes, against
one hundred and twenty-seven electoral votes for W. O. Butler; served as President of the United
States from July gth, 1850, to March 3d, 1853 ; was defeated as the National American candidate
for President in 1856 ; and died at Buffalo, New York, March 8th, 1874.
CHAPTER XXXI.
ARRAIGNMENT OF DANIEL WEBSTER.
ACCUSATION AGAINST MR. WEBSTER — THE "EXPOUNDER OF THE CON-
STITUTION " SORE AT HEART — BELLIGERENT MISSISSIPPI ANS — PAINT-
ING AND SCULPTURE AT THE CAPITOL— OVERLAND EXPLORATIONS —
A WASHINGTON MOB — A WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT.
MR. CLAYTON, when Secretary of State, had
received a proposition from August Belmont,
as the agent of the Rothschilds, to pay the
Mexican indemnity in drafts, for which four per cent,
premium would be allowed. Then Mr/ Webster be-
came Secretary of Sta,te, and he entered into an agree-
ment with an association of bankers, composed of the
Barings, Corcoran & Riggs, and Rowland & As pin-
wall, for the negotiation of the drafts by them at a pre-
mium of three and.a-half per cent. The difference to
the Government was about forty thousand dollars, but
the rival sets of bankers had large interests at stake,
based on their respective purchases of Mexican obliga-
tions at depreciated values, and a war of pamphlets
and newspaper articles ensued. The dispute was car-
ried into Congress, and during a debate on it in the
House, Representative Cartter, of Ohio, afterward
Chief Justice of the Courts in the District of Columbia,
was very emphatic in his condemnation of all the
bankers interested. u I want the House to under-
stand," said he, with a slight impediment. in his speech,
" that I take no part with the house of Rothschild, or
390
Assailed and Defended.
391
of Baring, or of Corcoran & Riggs. I look upon their
scramble for money precisely as I would upon the con-
test of a set of blacklegs around a gaming-table over
the last stake. They have all of them grown so large
in gormandizing upon money that they have left the
work of fleecing individuals, and taken to the enter-
prise of fleecing nations."
Mr. Charles Allen, of the Worcester district of Massa-
chusetts, availed him-
self of the opportunity
offered by this debate
on the payment of the
Mexican indemnity to
make a long-threaten-
ed malignant attack on
Daniel Webster. He
asserted that he would
not intrust Mr. Web-
ster with the making
of arrangements to pay
the three millions of
Mexican indemnity.
He stated that it was
notorious that when
he was called to take
the office of Secretary of State he entered into a
negotiation by which twenty-five thousand dollars was
raised for him in State Street, Boston, and twenty-five
thousand dollars in Wall Street, New York. Mr.
Allen trusted that the Democratic party had yet honor
enough left to inquire into the matter, and that the
Whigs even, would not palliate it, if satisfied of the
fact.
Mr. George Ashmun, Representative from the
GEORGE ASHMUN.
392 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Springfield district, retorted that Mr. Allen had eaten
salt with Mr. Webster and received benefits from him,
and that he was the only one who dared thus malig-
nantly to assail him. Mr. Ashmun alluded to a letter
from Washington, some time previously published in
the Boston Atlas, stating that a member of the House
had facts in his possession upon which to found a reso-
lution charging a high officer with " corruption and
treason," and he traced a connection between that
letter and Mr. Allen's insinuations.
Mr. Henry W. Hilliard, of Alabama, followed Mr.
Ashmun with a glowing eulogy of Mr. Webster, in
which he declared that, although Massachusetts might
repudiate him, the country would take him up, for he
stood before the eyes of mankind in a far more glorious
position than he could have occupied but for the stand
which he had taken in resisting the legions which were
bearing down against the rights of the South. This
elicited a bitter rejoinder from Mr. Allen, who alluded
to the fact that Mr. Hilliard was a clergyman, and said
that he had found out how to serve two masters. Mr.
Ashmun, asking Mr. Allen if he had not published
confidential letters addressed to him by Mr. Charles
Hudson, received as a reply, " No,- sir ! no, sir! You
are a scoundrel if you say that I did !" The debate
between Messrs. Ashmun and Allen finally became so
bitter that Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, and other Repre-
sentatives objected to its continuance, and refused to
hear another word from either of them. The next day
Mr. Lewis, of Philadelphia, improved an opportunity
for eulogizing Mr. Webster, provoking a scathing reply
from Mr. Joshua Giddings.
Immediately after this debate, Mr. Ashmun wrote to
Mr. Hudson to inquire whether the statement was true
Webster's Consolations. 393
or false, and received the following telegraphic dis-
patch :
" BOSTON, March 3d, 1851.
" HON. GEORGE ASHMUN : I wrote a confidential letter to Hon.
Charles Allen just before the Philadelphia Convention in 1848. He
read the letter in a public meeting at Worcester, and published it in
the Worcester Spy.
(Signed) "CHARGES HUDSON."
Mr. Ashmun declared on the floor of the House, by
the authority of Mr. Webster, that the statement of
Mr. Allen was " false in all its length and breadth, and
in all its details," but there was doubtless a foundation
for the statement. The friends of Mr. Webster admit-
ted that a voluntary contribution had been tendered
him as a compensation for the sacrifices he had made in
abandoning his profession to accept the office of Secre-
tary of State, and they justified his acceptance of the
money on the ground that after having devoted the
labors of a long life to his profession, and attained in it
a high rank, which brought large fees, he should not be
asked to relinquish those professional emoluments
without, in justice to his obligations to his family, ac-
cepting an equivalent. Without indorsing this State-
Street view of the case, it is to be regretted that the
charges were made, to trouble Mr. Webster's spirit and
sour his heart.
Mr. Webster often sought consolation in his troubles
from the grand old poetry of the Hebrew Bible, which
awakened peaceful echoes in his own poetic soul. His
chosen u crony " in his latter years, though much
younger than himself, was Charles Marsh, a New
Hampshire man. Well educated, polished by travel,
and free from pecuniary hamper, Marsh was a most de-
lightful companion, and his wit, keen as Saladin's cim-
eter, never wounded. Fletcher Webster was also a
394 Per ley s Reminiscences.
great favorite with his father, for he possessed what
Charles Lever called " the lost art of conversation."
Sometimes, when Mr. Webster's path had been crossed,
and he was as black as night, Marsh and Fletcher
would, by humorous repartees and witticisms, drive the
clouds away, and gradually force him into a conversa-
tion, which would soon become enlivened by the " inex-
tinguishable laughter of the gods."
That Mr. Webster felt keenly the attacks upon him
was undeniable, and atonement could not afterward be
made by eulogizing him. It has been well said, that if
charity is to be th~ veil to cover a multitude of sins in
the dead as well as in the living, cant should not lift
that veil to swear that those sins were virtues. Mr.
Webster was sorely troubled by the attitude taken l>y
many Massachusetts men at a time when he needed
their aid to secure the Presidency, which he undoubt-
edly believed would be tendered him by the Southern
Whigs, seconded by many Southern Democrats. He
lost flesh, the color faded from his cheeks, the lids of
his dark eyes were livid, and he was evidently debili-
tated and infirm. At times he would be apparently
unconscious of those around him, then he would rally,
and would display his wonderful conversational quali-
ties. Yet it was evident to those who' knew him best
that he was " stumbling down," as Carlyle said of
Mirabeau, " like a mighty heathen and Titan to his
rest."
One pleasant afternoon in March, Mr. Brown, of
Mississippi, delivered a long speech in the House upon
the politics of that State, in which he defended the State
Rights party and ridiculed the Union movement as un-
necessary, no one then being in favor of either disunion
or secession. This, one of his colleagues, Mr. Wilcox,
Violence in Congress.
395
denied. " Do you mean," said Mr. Browii, " to assert
that what I have said is false ?" " If you say," bravely
responded Mr. Wilcox, " that there was 110 party in
Mississippi at the recent election in favor of secession
or disunion, you say what is false!" The last word
was echoed by a ringing slap from Brown's open hand
A ROW IN CONGRESS.
on the right cheek of Wilcox, who promptly returned
the blow, and then the two men clinched each other in
a fierce struggle. Many of the members, leaving their
seats, crowded around the combatants, while Mr. Sey-
396 Per le^s Reminiscences.
mour, of Connecticut, who temporarily occupied the
chair, pounded with his mallet, shouting at the top of
his voice, " Order ! order !" The Sergeant-at-Arms was
loudly called for,, but he was absent, and before he
could be found the parties had been separated. The
Speaker resumed the chair, and in a few moments the
contestants, still flushed, apologized to the House — not
to each other. A duel was regarded as inevitable, but
mutual friends intervened, and the next day it was
formally announced in the House that the difficulty
a had been adjusted in a manner highly creditable to
both parties, who again occupied the same position of
friendship which had existed between them previous to
the upleasant affair of the day before." Thus easily
blew over the terrific tempests of honorable members.
Mr. Leutze, a talented artist, petitioned Congress to
commission him to paint for the Capitol copies of his
works, " Washington Crossing the Delaware," and
" Washington Rallying his Troops at Monmouth,"
but without success. Mr. Healy was equally unsuc-
cessful with his proposition to paint two large historical
paintings for the stairways of the extension of the
Capitol, one representing the "Destruction of the Tea
in Boston Harbor," and the other the "Battle of Bunker
Hill;" but subsequently he received an order to paint
the portraits of the Presidents which now grace the
White House. Mr. Martin, a marine artist of recog-
nized ability, also proposed in vain to paint two large
pictures, one representing the famous action between
the Constitution and the Guerriere, and the other the
night combat between the Bon Homme Richard and the
Serapis. Indeed, there have been scores of meritorious
works of art offered to and declined by Committees of
Congress, which have expended large sums in the pur-
Art at the Capitol. 397
chase of daubs disgraceful to the Capitol of the nation.
The recognition refused these painters at Washing-
ton was freely accorded elsewhere, however. Leutze's
" Columbus Before the Council at Salamanca " is justly
deemed one of the gems of the Old World, and has
given him an imperishable name. Among the really
great works of our own country is Healy's painting,
" Webster's Reply to Hayne," now in Faneuil Hall.
THE BRASS ROCKING-HORSE.
So with sculpture. Hiram Powers endeavored, with-
out success, to obtain an order for his colossal statue
of America, which was highly commended by compe-
tent judges, while Mr. Mills was liberally remunerated
for his effigy of General Jackson balancing himself on
a brass rocking-horse. Powers wrote : " I do not com-
plain of anything, for I know how the world goes, as
398 Per ley1 s Reminiscences.
the saying is, and I try to take it calmly and patiently,
holding out iny net, like a fisherman, to catch salmon,
shad, or pilchards, as they may come. If salmon, why,
then, we can eat salmon ; if shad, why, then, the shad
are good ; but if pilchards, why, then, we can eat them,
and bless God that we have a dinner at all."
The honors secured for Colonel Fremont by his
father-in-law, Mr. Benton, for his path-findings across
the Rocky Mountains, inspired other young officers of
the army, and some civilians, with a desire to follow
his example. Returning to Washington, each one had
wonderful tales of adventure to relate. Even the old
travelers, who saw the phoenix expire in her odorifer-
ous nest, whence the chick soon flew forth regenerated,
or who found dead lions slain by the quills of some
'•fretful porcupine," or who knew that the stare of the
basilisk was death — even those who saw unicorns graze
and who heard mermaids sing — were veracious when
compared with the explorers of railroad routes across
the continent. Senator Jefferson Davis did much to
encourage them by having their reports published in
quarto form, with expensive illustrations, and Corne-
lius Wendell laid the foundation of his fortune by
printing them as " Pub. Docs."
The National Era, edited by Dr. Gamaliel Bailey,
was a source of great annoyance to the pro-slavery
men, and on one occasion they excited an attack on his
house by a drunken mob. Dr. Bailey was a small,
slender man, with a noble head, and a countenance on
which the beautiful attributes of his character were
written. Taking his life in his hands, he went to his
door-way, attended by his wife, and bravely faced the
infuriated crowd. He denied that he had any agency
in a recent attempt to secure the escape of a party of
A Mob Cooled Off. 399
slaves to the North., and then called the attention of
his hearers to the fact that at a public meeting of the
citizens of Washington, not very long before that
night, resolutions, had been passed denouncing the
French Government for having fettered the press, yet
they were proposing to do in his case what their fellow-
citizens had condemned when done by others. His
remarks produced an effect, but the leaders of the mob
raised the cry, "Burn the Era office!" and a movement
was made toward that building, when Dan Radcliffe, a
well-known Washington lawyer with Southern sympa-
thies, sprang upon Dr. Bailey's doorstep and made an
eloquent appeal in behalf of a free press, concluding
with a proposition that the assemblage go to the house
of the Mayor of Washington and give him three cheers.
This was done, Radcliffe's good nature prevailing, and
the mob dispersed peaceably.
Dr. Bailey was, however, no novice in dealing with
mobs. Ten years before he carne to Washington he
resided in Cincinnati, where, in conjunction with James
G. Birney, he published The Philanthropist, a red-hot
anti-slavery sheet. During his first year in this enter-
prize his office was twice attacked by a mob, and in one
of their raids the office was gutted and the press thrown
into the river. These lively scenes induced a change
of base and settled the good Doctor in the national
metropolis.
The ablest newspaper correspondent at Washington
during the Fillmore Administration was Mr. Brastus
S. Brooks, one of the editors and proprietors of the
New York Express. He was then in the prime of life,
rather under the average height, with a large, well-
balanced head, bright black eyes, and a swarthy com-
plexion. What he did not know about what was going
400 Perley*s Reminiscences.
on in political circles, before and behind the scenes,
was not worth knowing. His industry was proverbial,
and he was one of the first metropolitan correspond-
ents to discard the didactic and pompous style which
had been copied from the British essayists, and to write
with a vigorous, graphic, and forcible pen. Washing-
ton correspondents in those days were neither eaves-
droppers nor interviewers, but gentlemen, who had a
recognized position in society, which they never
abused.
ROBEKT J. WALKER was born at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, July igth, 1801; removed to
Mississippi in 1826, and commenced ihe practice of law ; was United States Senator from Mississippi,
1836-1845; was Secretary of the Treasury under President Polk, 1845-1849; was appointed, by
President Buchanan, Governor of Kansas in 1857, but soon resigned, and died at Washington City,
November nth, 1860.
CHAPTER XXXII.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND KNOW-NOTHINGISM.
' FILIBUSTERING" — THE HULSEMANN LETTER — KOSSUTH, OF HUN-
GARY— THE KNOW-NOTHINGS — BOSS TWEED, OF NEW YORK — BUTLER,
OF SOUTH CAROLINA— OTHER PROMINENT SENATORS —EXIT CLAY —
ENTER SUMNER— THE OFFICERS OF THE HOUSE.
THE forcible acquisition of territory was the
means by which the pro-slavery leaders at
the South hoped to increase their territory,
and they defended this scheme in the halls of Congress,
in their pulpits, and at their public gatherings. Going
back into sacred and profane history, they would
attempt to prove that Moses, Joshua, Saul, and David
were " filibusters," and so were William the Con-
queror, Charlemagne, Gustavus Adolphus, and Napo-
leon. Walker simply followed their example, except
that they wore crowns on their heads, while he, a new
man, only carried a sword in his hand. Was it right,,
they asked, when a brave American adventurer, in-
vited by the despairing victims of tyranny in Cuba or
of anarchy in Central America, threw himself boldly,,
with a handful of comrades, into their midst to sow the
seeds of civilization and to reconstruct society — was it
right for the citizens of the United States, themselves
the degenerate sons of filibustering sires, to hurl at
him as a reproach what was their ancestors' highest
merit and glory ?
General Walker, the " gray-eyed mkn of destiny,"
26 401
402
Perlefs Reminiscences.
was the leading native filibuster, but foremost among
the foreign adventurers — the Dugald Dalgettys of
that epoch — who came here from unsuccessful revo-
lutions abroad to seek employment for their swords,
THE FAMOUS FILIBUSTER, GEN. WALKER.
was General Heningen. He had served with Zumala-
Carreguy, in Spain, with Schamyl, in the Caucasus,
and with Kossuth, in Hungary, chronicling his exploits
in works which won him the friendship of Wellington
An Unavailing Protest. 403
and other notables. Going to Central America, he
fought gallantly, but unsuccessfully, at Grenada, and
he then came to Washington, where he was soon
known as an envoy of " Cuba Libre." He married a
niece of Senator Berrien, of Georgia, a devoted and
cultivated woman, and Hio tall, soldier-like figure was
to be seen striding along on the sunny sidewalk of
Pennsylvania Avenue every pleasant morning, until in
later years he went South to " live or die in Dixie."
President Taylor having sent Mr. Dudley Mann as
a confidential agent to Hungary to obtain reliable in-
formation concerning the true condition of affairs
there, the Austrian Government instructed its diplo-
matic representative at Washington, the Chevalier
Hulsemann, to protest against this interference in its
internal affairs, as offensive to the laws of propriety.
This protest was communicated to Mr. Webster after
he became Secretary of State, and in due time the
Chevalier received an answer which completely extin-
guished him. It carefully reviewed the case, and in
conclusion told the protesting Chevalier in plain Anglo-
Saxon that nothing would " deter either the Govern-
ment or the people of the United States from exercis-
ing, at their own discretion, the rights belonging to
them as an independent nation, and of forming and
expressing their own opinion freely and at all times
upon the great political events which might transpire
among the civilized nations of the earth." The pater-
nity of this memorable letter was afterward ascribed
to Edward Everett. It was not, however, written
either by Mr. Webster or Mr. Everett, but by Mr. Wil-
liam Hunter, then the Chief Clerk of the Department
of State.
Meanwhile, Kossuth had been released from his im-
404
Perley^s Reminiscences.
prisonment within the dominion of the Sublime Porte,
by request of the Government of the United States,
and taken to England in the war steamer Mississippi.
In due time the great Behemoth of the Magyar race
arrived at Washington, where he created a marked
sensation. The distinguished revolutionist wore a
military uniform, and the steel scabbard of his sword
trailed on the ground as he walked. He was about five
feet eight inches in
height, with a slight
and apparently not
strongly built frame,
and was a little round-
shouldered. His face
was rather oval ; a pair
of bluish-gray eyes
gave an animated and
intelligent look to his
countenance. His fore-
head, high and broad,
was deeply wrinkled,
and time had just be-
gun to grizzle a head
of dark, straight hair,
a heavy moustache,
and whiskers which formed a beard beneath his chin.
Whether from his recent captivity or from constitu-
tional causes, there was an air of lassitude in his look
to which the fatigues of his voyage not improbably
contributed. Altogether, he gave one the idea of a
visionary or theoretical enthusiast rather than of a
great leader or a soldier.
Kossuth was the guest of Congress at Brown's
Hotel, but those Senators and Representatives who
LOUIS KOSSUTH.
A Gigantic Humbug. 405
called to pay their respects found members of his
retinue on guard before the door of his apartments,
armed with muskets and bayonets, while his ante-
room was crowded with the members of his staff.
They had evidently been reared in camps, as they
caroused all day and then tumbled into their beds
booted and spurred, furnishing items of liquors, wines,
cigars, and damaged furniture for the long and large
hotel bill which Congress had to pay. Mr. Seward
entertained the Hungarian party at an evening recep-
tion, and a number of Congressmen gave Kossuth a
subscription dinner at the National Hotel, at which
several of the known aspirants for the Presidency
spoke. Mr. Webster was, as became the Secretary of
State, carefully guarded in his remarks, and later
in the evening, when the champagne had flowed freely,
he indulged in what appeared to be his impromptu
individual opinions, but he unluckily dropped at his
seat a slip of paper on which his gushing sentences
had been carefully written out. General Houston
managed to leave the table in time to avoid being
called upon to speak, and General Scott, who regarded
Kossuth as a gigantic humbug, had escaped to Rich-
mond. Kossuth was invited to dine at the White
House, and on New Year's day he held a reception,
but he failed in his attempt to secure Congressional
recognition or material aid.
A number of the leading public men at Washington
were so disgusted by the assumption and arrogance
displayed by Kossuth, and by the toadyism manifested
by many of those who humbled themselves before him,
that they organized a banquet, at which Senator Crit-
tenden was the principal speaker. " Beware," said
the eloquent Kentuckian, in the words of Washington,
406 Perley^s Reminiscences.
u of the introduction or exercise of a foreign influence
among you ! We are Americans ! The Father of our
Country has taught us, and we have learned, to gov-
ern ourselves. If the rest of the world have not
learned that lesson, how shall they teach us ? We
are the teachers, and yet they appear here with a new
exposition of Washington's Farewell Address. For
one, I do not want this new doctrine. I want to stand
super antiquas vias — upon the old road that Washing-
ton traveled, and that every President from Washing-
ton to Fillmore has traveled."
The main effect of Kossuth's visit to the United
States was an extraordinary impetus given to "The
Order of United Americans," from which was evolved
that political phenomenon, the American, or Know-
Nothing, party. The mysterious movements of this
organization attracted the curiosity of the people, and
members of the old political organizations eagerly de-
sired to learn what was carefully concealed. Secretly-
held lodges, with their paraphernalia, pass-words, and
degrees, grips and signs, tickled the popular fancy, and
the new organization became formidable. Men of all
religions and political creeds fraternized beneath the
" stars and stripes," and solemnly pledged themselves
to the support of " our country, our whole country,
and nothing but our country."
The leaders of this Know-Nothing movement, who
in the delirium of the hour were intrusted with dicta-
torial authority, were in no way calculated to exercise
a permanent, healthful control. They were generally
without education, without statesmanship, without
knowledge of public affairs, and, to speak plainly,
without the abilities or genius which might enable
them to dispense with experience. Losing sight of the
Boss Tweed and his Boys. 407
cardinal principle of the American Order, that only
those identified with the Republic by birth or perma-
nent residence should manage its political affairs, these
leaders fell back upon a bigoted hostility to the Church
of Rome, to which many of their original members in
Louisiana and elsewhere belonged. The result was
that the mighty organization had begun to decay be-
fore it attained its growth, and that the old political
leaders became members that they might elbow the im-
provised chieftains from power when the effervescence
of the movement should subside. A number of Abo-
litionists, headed by Henry Wilson and Anson Bur-
lingame, of Massachusetts, sought admission into the
lodges, knelt at the altars, pledged themselves by
solemn oaths to support the " Order," and then used it
with great success for the destruction of the Whig
party.
Another noted person who visited Washington early
in the Administration of Mr. Fillmore was William M.
Tweed, of New York, who came as foreman of the
Americus Engine Company, Number Six, a volunteer
fire organization. Visiting the White House, the com-
pany was ushered into the Hast Room, where President
Fillmore soon appeared, and Tweed, stepping out in
front of his command, said : " These are Big Six's
boys, Mr. President I" He then walked along the line
with Mr. Fillmore, and introduced each member indi-
vidually. As they were leaving the room, a newspaper
reporter asked Tweed why he had not made a longer
speech. " There was no necessity," replied the future
pillager of the city treasury of New York, " for the
Company is as much grander than any other fire com-
pany in the world as Niagara Falls is grander than
Croton dam." Two years afterward, Tweed, profiting
408
Pe-rley*s Reminiscences.
by a division in the Whig ranks in the Fifth District of
New York, returned to Washington as a Representa-
tive in Congress. He was a regular attendant, never
participating in the debates, and always voting with the
Democrats. Twice he read speeches which were writ-
ten for him, and he obtained for a relative the contract
'
W,j!*iijV"&=-
'^".rpT-T^
TWEED INTRODUCING BIG SIX'S BOYS.
for supplying the House with chairs for summer use,
which were worthless and soon disappeared.
Senator Andrew Pickens Butler was a prominent
figure at the Capitol and in Washington society. He
was a trifle larger round at the waistband than any-
where else, his long white hair stood out as if he were
charged with electric fluid, and South Carolina was
Sumner enters the Senate. 409
legibly written on his rubicund countenance. The
genial old patriarch would occasionally take too much
wine in the " Hole in the Wall " or in some committee-
room, and then go into the Senate and attempt to bully
Chase or Hale ; but every one liked him, nevertheless.
Then there was Senator Slidell, of Louisiana, a New
Yorker by birth, with a florid face, long gray hair, and
prominent eyes, forming a striking contrast in personal
appearance with his dapper little colleague, Senator
Benjamin, whose features disclosed his Jewish extrac-
tion. General Taylor had wished to have Mr. Benja-
min in his Cabinet, but scandalous reports concerning
Mrs. Benjamin had reached Washington, and the Gen-
eral was informed that she would not be received in
society. Mr. Benjamin then rented a house at Wash-
ington, furnished it handsomely, and entertained with
lavish hospitality. His gentlemen friends would eat
his dinners, but they would not bring their wives or
daughters to Mrs. Benjamin's evening parties, and she,
deeply mortified, went to Paris.
On the first day of December, 1851, Henry Clay
spoke in the Senate for the last time, and General
Cass presented the credentials of Charles Sumner,
who had been elected by one of the coalitions between
the anti-slavery Know-Nothings and the Democrats,
which gave the latter the local offices in New York,
Ohio, and Massachusetts, and elected Seward, Chase,
and Sumner to the United States Senate. Soon after
Mr. Sumner took his seat in the arena which had been
made famous by the political champions of the North,
the South, and the West, Mr. Beiiton said to him, with
a patronizing air, " You have come upon the stage too
late, sir. Not only have our great men passed away,
but the great issues have been settled also. The last
4io Per ley^s Reminiscences.
of these was the National Bank, and that has been
overthrown forever. Nothing is left you, sir, but puny
sectional questions and petty strifes about slavery and
fugitive slave-laws, involving no national interests."
Mr. Sumner had but two coadjutors in opposing
slavery and in advocating freedom when he entered the
Senate, but before he died he was the recognized leader
of more than two-thirds of that body. He was de-
nounced by a leading Whig newspaper of Boston when
he left that city to take his seat as "an agitator," and
he was refused a place on any committee of the Senate,
as being " outside of any healthy political organiza-
tion," but he lived to exercise a controlling influence in
Massachusetts politics and to be the Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs. He had learned
from Judge Story the value of systematic industry, and
while preparing long speeches on the questions before
the Senate he also applied himself sedulously to the
practical duties of a Senator, taking especial pains to
answer every letter addressed to him.
Mr. Speaker Linn Boyd used to preside with great
dignity, sitting on an elevated platform beneath a can-
opy of scarlet curtains. Seated at his right hand, at
the base of the platform beside the " mace," was An-
drew Jackson Glossbrenner, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and
on the opposite side was Mr. McKnew, the Doorkeeper.
Mr. John W. Forney officiated at the Clerk's table, hav-
ing been elected by a decided majority. His defeat
two years previous had been very annoying to his
Democratic friends at the North, who were expected to
aid the Southern wing of the party with their votes,
and yet were often deserted when they desired offices.
" It is," said one of them, " paying us a great compli-
ment for our principles, or great contempt for our
Forney's Fidelity. 411
pliancy." Mr. Buchanan wrote to a Virginia Demo-
cratic leader, " Poor Forney deserves a better fate than
to be wounded ' in the house of his friends,' and to vote
for a Whig in preference to him was the unkindest cut
of all. It will, I am confident, produce no change in
his editorial course, but I dread its effect." Mr. Forney
did not permit his desertion to influence his pen, and
his loyalty to his party was rewarded by his election,
two years after this defeat, as Clerk of the House.
JEFFERSON DAVIS was born in Christian County, Kentucky, June y±, 1808; graduated at West
Point in 1828; was an officer in the United States Army, 1828-1835; was a Representative from
Mississippi, December ist, 1845, to June, 1846, when he resigned to command the First Regiment of
Mississippi Riflemen in the war with Mexico; was United States Senator, December 6th, 1847, to
November, 1851 ; was defeated as the Secession candidate for Governor of Mississippi in 1851 by
H. S. Foote, Union candidate; was Secretary of War under President Pierce, March yth, 1853, to
March 3d, 1857; was again United States Senator, March 4th, 1857, unt'l he withdrew, January
2ist, 1861 ; was President of the Confederate States ; was captured by the United States troops,
May ioth, 1865, imprisoned two years at Fortress Monroe, and then released on bail.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
PLOTTING FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
PRESIDENT-MAKING — POLITICAL INTRIGUES— THE DEMOCRATIC CONVEN-
TION— NOMINATION OP GENERAL PIERCE —THE WHIG CANDIDATES —
RIVALRY BETWEEN WEBSTER AND FILLMORE— THE LAST WHIG NA-
TIONAL CONVENTION — DEATH OF HENRY CLAY — GENERAL SCOTT AS
A CANDIDATE— GENERAL FRANK PIERCE, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE —
DEATH OF DANIEL WEBSTER — GENERAL PIERCE ELECTED PRESIDENT.
THE first session of the Thirty-second Congress,
which began on the ist of August, 1852, was
characterized by sectional strife, and was de-
voted to President-making. President Fillmore, who
had traveled in the Northern States during the preced-
ing summer, felt confident that he would receive the
Whig nomination, and so did Mr. Webster, who
" weighed him down " — so Charles Francis Adams
wrote Henry Wilson — " as the Old Man of the Sea
did Sinbad." Meanwhile Mr. Seward and his hench-
man, Mr. Weed, were very active, and the latter after-
ward acknowledged that he had himself intrigued with
the Democratic leaders for the nomination of Governor
Marcy, who would be sure to carry the State of New
York, and thus secure the defeat of the Whig candi-
date. " Holding President Fillmore and his Secretary
of State, Mr. Webster, responsible for a temporary
overthrow of the Whig party," says Mr. Weed, " I
desired to see those gentlemen left to reap what they
had sown. In other words, I wanted either Mr. Fill-
412
Pierce for President.
413
more or Mr. Webster to be nominated for President
upon their own issues. I devoted several weeks to the
removal of obstacles in the way of Governor Marcy's
nomination for President by the Democratic National
Convention."
General Cass, Mr. Douglas, and Mr. Buchanan were
equally active in the Democratic ranks, and their re-
spective friends became so angry with each other that
it was an easy matter
to win the nomination
with what the politi-
cians call " a dark
horse."
The sessions of the
National Democratic
Convention were pro-
tracted and stormy,
and on the thirty-fifth
ballot the name of Gen-
eral Franklin Pierce
was brought forward,
for the first time, by
the Virginia delega-
tion. Several other
States voted for the
New Hampshire Brigadier, but it did not seem possible
that he could be nominated, and the next day, on the
forty-eighth ballot, Virginia gave her vote for Daniel S.
Dickinson, of New York. It was received with great
applause, but Mr. Dickinson, who was a delegate pledged
to the support of Cass, was too honorable a man to
accept what he thought belonged to his friend. Re-
ceiving permission to address the Convention, he elo-
quently withdrew his own name and pleaded so earnestly
LEWIS CASS.
414 Perley*s Reminiscences.
for the nomination of General Cass, that he awakened
the enthusiasm of the audience, and received a shower
of bouquets from the ladies in the galleries, to which
he gracefully alluded " as a rose-bud in the wreath of
his political destiny."
The Convention at last, on the forty-ninth ballot,
nominated General Pierce (Purse, his friends called
him), a gentleman of courteous temper, highly agree-
able manners, and convivial nature. He had served in
the recent war with Mexico ; he had never given a vote
or written a sentence that the straightest Southern
Democrat could wish to blot ; and he was identified
with the slave-power, having denounced its enemies as
the enemies of the Constitution. William R. King,
at the time president pro tempore of the Senate, was
nominated for Vice-President, receiving every vote
except the eleven given by the delegation from Illinois,
which were for Jefferson Davis. Cass and Douglas
were at first much provoked by the action of the Con-
vention, but Buchanan gracefully accepted the situa-
tion.
Daniel Webster felt and asserted that he was entitled
to receive the Whig nomination. More than thirty
years of public service had made him the ablest and
the most conspicuous member of his party then on the
stage, and neither Fillmore nor Scott could compare with
him in the amount and value of public services rendered.
He had worked long, assiduously, and faithfully to de-
serve the honors of his party and to qualify himself
for the highest distinction that party could bestow upon
him. He must receive its nomination now or never,
as he was then upward of sixty years of age, and his
vigorous constitution had shown signs of decay. He
engaged in the campaign, however, with the hope and
Skirmishing for the Presidency. 415
the vigor of youth, writing letters to his friends, circu-
lating large pamphlet editions of his life and of his
speeches, and entertaining at his table those through
whose influence he hoped to receive the Southern sup-
port necessary to secure his success. No statesman
ever understood the value of printer's ink better than
did Mr. Webster, and he always took care to have a
record of what he did and said placed before the
country. Unfortunately for his printers, much of his
last .campaign work was done on credit, and never was
paid for.
President Fillmore, meanwhile, was quietly but
steadily using the patronage of the Federal Govern-
ment to secure the election of delegates to the Whig
National Convention friendly to his own nomination.
Mr. Webster counted on the support of the President's
friends, but he never received from Mr. Fillmore any
pledges that it would be given. On the contrary, the
leading office-holders asserted, weeks prior to the
assembling of the Convention, that the contest had
already been narrowed down to a question between
Fillmore and Scott. Mr. Seward's friends were of the
same opinion, and urged the support of Scott as the
only way to defeat the nomination of Fillmore. Horace
Greeley wrote from Washington to Thurlow Weed :
" If Fillmore and Webster will only use each other up,
we may possibly recover — but our chance is slim.
There is a powerful interest working hard against
Douglas ; Buchanan will have to fight hard for his
own State ; if he gets it he may be nominated ; Cass
is nowhere."
The Whig National Convention, the last one held
by that party, met in Baltimore on Wednesday, the
1 6th of June, 1852. Two days were spent in effecting
416
Perley*s Reminiscences.
an organization and in preparing a " platform," after
which, on proceeding to ballot for a Presidential candi-
date, General Scott had one hundred and thirty-four
votes, Mr. Fillmore one hundred and thirty-three, and
Mr. Webster twenty-nine, every one of which was cast
CHAPULTEPEC, STORMED BY GENERAL SCOTT.
by a Northern delegate. Not a Southern vote was
given to him, despite all the promises made, but Mr.
Fillmore received the entire Southern strength. The
balloting was continued until Saturday afternoon with-
out any change, and even the eloquence of Ruftis
Choate failed to secure the vote of a single Southern
418 Per ley^s Reminiscences.
delegate for his cherished friend. After the adjourn-
ment of the Convention from Saturday until Monday,
Mr. Choate visited Washington, hoping to move Mr.
Fillmore ; but the President " made no sign," and Mr.
Webster saw that the Presidency, to which he had sc
long aspired, was to pass beyond his reach. He was
saddened by the disappointment, and especially
wounded when he was informed that Mr. Clay had
advised the Southern delegates to support Mr. Fill-
more.
A nomination was finally made on the fifty-third
ballot, when twenty-eight delegates from Pennsylvania
changed their votes from Fillmore to General Scott.
That evening a party of enthusiastic Whigs at Wash-
ington, after serenading President Fillmore, marched
to the residence of Mr. Webster. The band performed
several patriotic airs, but some time elapsed before Mr.
Webster appeared, wearing a long dressing-gown, and
looking sad and weary. He said but a few words,
making no allusion to General Scott, and when, in
conclusion, he said that, for one, he should sleep well
and rise with the lark the next morning, and bade
them good-night, the serenaders retired as if they had
had a funeral sermon preached to them. Thenceforth
Mr. Webster was a disappointed, heart-stricken man,
and he retired to Marshfield profoundly disgusted with
the insincerity of politicians.
The noisy rejoicings by the Whigs at Washington
over the nomination of General Scott disturbed Henry
Clay, who lay on his death-bed at the National Hotel,
attended only by one of his sons, Thomas Hart Clay,
and a negro servant. The " Great Commoner " was
very feeble, and a few days later he breathed his last,
as a Christian philosopher should die. His hope con-
Last Hours of Clay. 419
tinued to the end, though true and real, to be tremu-
lous with humility rather than rapturous with assur-
ance. On the evening previous to his departure, sit-
ting an hour in silence by his side, the Rev. Dr. But-
ler heard him, in the slight wanderings of his mind to
other days and other scenes, murmuring the words,
"My mother! mother! mother!" and saying "My
dear wife," as if she were present.
" Broken with the storms of life," Henry Clay gave
up the ghost, and his remains were escorted with high
funeral honors to his own beloved Commonwealth of
Kentucky, where they rest beneath an imposing monu-
ment. Twice a candidate for the Presidency, and
twice defeated, his death was mourned by an immense
number of attached personal friends, and generally
regretted by the people of the United States.
The Whigs were greatly embarrassed by General
Scott, who persisted in making campaign speeches,
some of which did him great harm. Their mass meet-
ings proved failures, notably one on the battle-ground
of Niagara, but they endeavored to atone for these dis-
couraging events by a profuse distribution of popular
literature. They circulated large editions of a tract
by Horace Greeley, entitled, " Why am I a Whig ?"
and of campaign lives of " Old Chapultepec," pub-
lished in Bnglish, French, and German. Mr. Bu-
chanan was unusually active in his opposition to the
Whig ticket. " I should regard Scott's election," he
wrote to a friend, " as one of the greatest cala Cities
which could befall the country. I know him well, and
do not doubt either his patriotism or his integrity ; but
he is vain beyond any man I have ever known, and,
what is remarkable in a vain man, he is obstinate and
self-willed and unyielding. His judgment, except in
420 Perley*s Reminiscences.
conducting a campaign in the field, is perverse and un-
sound ; and when, added to all this, we consider that,
if elected at all, it will be under the auspices of Sew-
ard and his Abolition associates, I fear for the fate of
this Union." General Scott was mercilessly abused by
the Democratic orators and writers also, who even ridi-
culed the establishment of the Soldiers' Home at
Washington, with the contribution levied on the City
THE SOLDIERS' HOME
of Mexico when captured by him, as the creation of an
aristocratic body of military paupers.
The Democratic party, forgetting all previous differ-
ences, rallied to the support of their candidate. A cam-
paign life of him was written by his old college friend,
Nathaniel Hawthorne, and eloquent speakers extolled
his statesmanship, his military services, and his devo-
tion to the compromise measures which were to avert
the threatened civil war. A good estimate of his char-
acter was told by the Whig speakers, as having been
given to an itinerant lecturer by the landlord of a New
Last Hours of Webster. 421
Hampshire village inn. " What sort of a man is Gen-
eral Pierce ?" asked the traveler. " Waal, up here,
where everybody knows Frank Pierce," was the reply,
a and where Frank Pierce knows everybody, he's a
pretty considerable fellow, I tell you. But come to
spread him out over this whole country, I'm afraid that
he'll be dreadful thin in some places."
The death of Mr. Webster aided the Democratic can-
didate. The broken-down and disappointed statesman
died at his loved rural home on the sea-shore, where, by
his request, his cattle were driven beneath his window
so that he could gaze on them once more before he left
them forever. He wrestled with the grim Destroyer,
showing a reluctance to abandon life, and looking into
the future with apprehension rather than with hope.
When Dr. Jeffries repeated to him the soothing
words of Sacred Writ, " Thy rod and Thy staff they
comfort me," the dying statesman exclaimed, " Yes ;
that is what I want, Thy rod; Thy staff!" He was no
hypocrite, and although he prayed often and earnestly,
he did not pretend that he felt that peace "which passeth
all understanding," but he did exhibit a devoted sub-
mission and a true reliance on Almighty God. Craving
stimulants, he had heard Dr. Jeffries tell an attendant,
" Give him a spoonful of brandy in fifteen minutes,
another in half an hour, and another in three quarters
of an hour, if he still lives." These directions were
followed with exactness until the arrival of the time
last mentioned, when the attendants were undecided
about administering another dose. It was in the midst
of their doubts that the dying statesman, who had been
watching a clock in the room, partly raised his head
and feebly remarked : " I still live." The brandy was
given to him, and he sank into a state of tranquil un-
consciousness, from which he never rallied.
422
Per ley's Reminiscences.
Those who attended the funeral at Marshfield saw
Mr. Webster's remains lying in an open iron coffin, be-
neath the shade of a large elm tree before the house.
The body was dressed in a blue coat with gilt buttons,
white vest, cravat, pantaloons, gloves, and shoes with
dark cloth gaiters. His hand rested upon his breast,
and his features wore a sad smile familiar to those who
had known him in his later years. The village pastor
conducted the services, after which the upper half of
the coffin was put on, and on a low platform car, drawn
WEBSTER'S GF.A.VE AT MARSHFIELD.
by two black horses, it was taken to the burial-ground
on the estate. On either side of the remains walked
the pall-bearers selected by the deceased — six sturdy,
weather-bronzed farmer-fishermen, who lived in the
vicinity — while General Pierce, the Mayor of Boston,
Edward Everett, Rufus Choate, and other distinguished
personages followed as they best could. There were
many evidences of grief among the thousands of Mr.
Webster's friends present, and yet death was for him a
happy escape from trouble. He was painfully aware
Everett Succeeds Webster. 423
that he had forfeited the political confidence of the
people of Massachusetts and gained nothing by so
doing ; he had found that he could not receive a nomi-
nation for the Presidency, even from the party which
he had so long served, and his pecuniary embarrass-
ments were very annoying. Neither could he, under
the circumstances, have continued to hold office under
Mr. Fillmore, who, after Webster's funeral, appointed
Bdward Everett as his successor in the Department of
State.
When the nineteenth Presidential election was held,
General Scott received only the electoral votes of
Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee ;
Pierce and King received two hundred and fifty-four
votes against forty-two votes for Scott and Graham.
JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, September loth, 1786 ; was
United^States Senator from Kentucky, December ist, 1817, to March 3d, 1819, and again December
7th, 1835, to March 3d, 1841; was Attorney-General under President Harrison, March 5th, 1841, to
September isth, 1841; was again United States Senator, March 3151, 1842-1848; was Governor of
Kentucky, 1848-1850 ; was Attorney-General under President Fillmore, July aoth, 1850, to March 3d,
1853 ; was aeain United States Senator, December 3d, 1855, to March 3d, 1861 ; was a Representa-
tive in Congress, July 4th, 1861, to March 3d, 1863, and died at Frankfort, Kentucky, July 26th, 1863.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
PIERCE AT THE HELM.
INAUGURATION OP PRESIDENT PIERCE— VICE-PRESIDENT KING— THE
CABINET — POPULARITY OF THE NEW PRESIDENT — PRYOR, OP VIR-
GINIA—RARE OLD WINES — PEALE'S PORTRAITS OP WASHINGTON-
BRADY* PORTRAITS — VISIT OP THACKERAY — A COPYRIGHT VICTIM —
JULLIEN'S CONCERTS.
GENERAL PIERCE received a severe blow
after his election, a railroad accident in Mas-
sachusetts depriving him of his only child, a
promising boy, to whom he was devotedly attached. 'A
week before the inauguration he escorted his sorrow-
stricken wife to Baltimore, where he left her, and then
went to Washington, accompanied by his private secre-
tary, Mr. Sidney Webster. President Fill more invited
them to dine socially at the White House, and in the
evening they were present at a numerously attended
public reception in the East Room.
The inauguration of General Pierce attracted crowds
from the cities on the Atlantic coast, with some from
the western slope of the Alleghanies. It was a coM,
raw day, and the President-elect rode in a carriage witb
President Fillmore, surrounded by a body-guard of
young gentlemen, mounted on fine horses, and serving
for that day as Deputy United States Marshals. There
was a military escort, composed of the Marine Corps,
the uniformed militia of the District, and visiting com-
panies from Baltimore and Alexandria. Behind the
424
Pierces Inauguration.
425
President's carriage marched several political associa-
tions and the mechanics at the Navy Yard, with a full-
rigged miniature vessel.
As William R. King, the Vice-President-elect, was in
Cuba, hoping to benefit his health, the Senate elected
FRANKLTN PIERCE.
David J. Atchison, of Missouri, President pro tempore.
The Senate, accompanied by the Diplomatic Corps and
officers of the army and of the navy, all in full uni-
form, then moved in procession to the east front of the
Capitol. When the cheers with which the President-
elect was received had subsided, he advanced to the
426
Perley^s Reminiscences.
front of the platform and delivered his inaugural ad-
dress, which he had committed to memory, although he
held the manuscript in his hands.
The personal appearance of General Pierce was dig-
nified and winning, if not im-
posing, although he was but
five feet nine inches high,
slenderly built, and with-
out that depth of chest
or breadth of shoul-
der which indi-
cate vigorous
constitu-
tions.
His
EASTERN PORTICO OF THE CAPITOL.
complexion was pale and his features were thin and care-
worn, but his deportment was graceful and authoritative.
It was evident that he belonged to that active, wiry class
of men capable of great endurance and physical fatigue.
The inaugural was a plain, straightforward document,
The Vice-Presidents Death. 427
intensely national in tone, and it stirred the hearts of
the vast audience which heard it like .the clarion notes
of a trumpet. The new President had an abiding con-
fidence in the stability of our institutions. Snow be-
gan to fall before he had concluded his address and
taken the oath of office, which was administered by
Chief Justice Taney.
William Rufus King took the oath of office as Vice-
President on the 4th of March, 1853, at a plantation on
the highest of the hills that surround Matanzas, with
the luxuriant vegetation of Cuba all around, the clear,
blue sky of the tropics overhead, and a delicious sea
breeze cooling the pure atmosphere. The oath was ad-
ministered by United States Consul Rodney, and at
the conclusion of the ceremonies the assembled Creoles
shouted, " Vaya vol con Dies /" (God will be with you),
while the veteran politician appeared calm, as one who
had fought the good fight and would soon lay hold of
eternal life. Reaching his home at Cahaba, Ala., on
the i yth of April, he died the following day, and his
remains were buried on his plantation, known as the
" Pine Hills."
President Pierce formed a Cabinet of remarkable
ability. He had wanted Caleb Cushing as his Secre-
tary of State, but the old anti-slavery utterances of the
Massachusetts Brigadier had not been forgotten, and
Pierce could make him only his Attorney-General.
Governor Marcy was placed at the head of the Depart-
ment of State, and he invited Mr. George Sumner, a
brother of the Senator, to become Assistant Secretary
of State, but the invitation was declined. James Guth-
rie, a stalwart, clear-headed Kentuckian, was made
Secretary of the Treasury, with Peter G. Washington,
a veteran District politician, as Assistant Secretary.
428 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Jefferson Davis solicited and received the position of
Secretary of War, James C. Dobbin, of North Carolina,
was made Secretary of the Navy ; Robert McClelland,
of Michigan, was designated by General Cass for Sec-
retary of the Interior, and James Campbell, of Penn-
sylvania, was appointed Postmaster-General, with thirty
thousand subordinate places to be filled, its progressive
improvements to be looked after, and a general desire on
the part of the public for a reduction of postage. An .
abler Cabinet never gathered around the council-table
at the White House.
Jefferson Davis, the Secretary of War, entertained
more than any of his associates. His dinner-parties,,
at which six guests sat down with the host and hostess,,
were very enjoyable, and his evening receptions, which
were attended by the leading Southerners and their
Northern allies, were brilliant affairs with one excep-
tion. On that occasion, owing, it was said, to a
defect in the gas meter, every light in the house sud-
denly ceased to burn. It was late, and with great diffi-
culty lamps and candles were obtained to enable the
guests to secure their wraps and make their depar-
ture.
No other President ever won the affections of the
people of Washington so completely as did Gen-
eral Pierce. Such was the respect entertained for
him by citizens of all political creeds, that when he
took his customary " constitutional " walk down Penn-
sylvania Avenue to the Capitol and back one could
mark his progress by the uplifting of hats as he passed
along. He and Mrs. Pierce, disregarding the etiquette
of the White House, used to pay social visits to the
families of New Hampshire friends holding clerkships,
and to have them as guests at their family dinner-
Journalistic War. 429
table. The President's fascinating courtesy and kind-
ness were irresistible.
Roger A. Pryor first figured at Washington in the
spring of 1853. He was an editorial contributor to
the Washington Union, the Democratic organ, and he
wrote a scathing review of The War of Ormusd and
Ahriman, by Henry Winter Davis, of Baltimore,
which set forth the United States and Russia as the
respective champions of the principles of liberty and
of despotism, and claimed to foresee in the distant
future a mighty and decisive conflict between these
persistent combatants. This Mr. Pryor pronounced
impossible, asserting that " in every element of na-
tional strength and happiness Russia is great and
prosperous beyond any other country in Europe," and
that the United States and Russia, instead of becoming
enemies, "will consolidate and perpetuate their friendly
relations by the same just and pacific policy which has
regulated their intercourse in times past." This
article was very distasteful to the Democratic readers
of the Union, and the editor denounced it. Mr. Pryor
came back at him in the Intelligencer, declaring that he
was not the eulogist of the Russian Empire, but setting
forth at great length the good-will of Russia toward
the United States, and especially announcing that " in
Russia the maudlin, mock philanthropy of Uncle
Tom's Cabin is an unknown disease." It was the
general belief at Washington that Mr. Pryor had been
inspired by some one connected with the Russian
Legation.
Old Madeira wine has always been very popular in
Washington, especially on the tables of their Honors the
Justices of the Supreme Court. For many years sup
plies were obtained from the old mercantile houses in
430 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Alexandria, which had made direct importations prior
to the Revolution. During the Fillmore Administra-
tion many Washington cellars were replenished at the
sale of the private stock of wines and liquors of the
late Josiah Lee, of Baltimore. Fifty demijohns of
various brands of Madeira were sold at prices ranging
from twenty-four dollars to forty-nine dollars per gal-
lon ; and one lot of twenty-two bottles commanded the
extreme price of fifteen dollars and fifty cents per
bottle, which at five bottles to the gallon is at the rate
of seventy-seven dollars and fifty cents per gallon. •
Mr. Brady came from New York and opened a
" daguerrean saloon " at Washington, and the dim por-
traits produced on burnished metal were regarded with
silent astonishment. Up to' that time the metropolis
had been visited every winter by portrait and min-
iature painters, but their work required long sittings
and was expensive. The daguerreotypes, which could
be produced in a few moments and at a comparatively
small cost, became very popular, and Brady's gallery
was thronged every morning with distinguished visi-
tors. Mr. Brady was a man of slight figure, well pro-
portioned, with features somewhat resembling the
portraits of Vandyke. He possessed wonderful pa-
tience, artistic skill, and a thorough acquaintance with
the mechanical and chemical features of sun-painting.
For the next thirty years he took portraits of almost
all the prominent persons who visited Washington
City, and in time his reminiscences of them became
very interesting.
The citizens of Washington enjoyed a rare treat
when Thackeray came to deliver his lectures on the
English essayists, wits, and humorists of the eigh-
teenth century. Accustomed to the spread-eagle style
Thackeray's Lectures.
43*
of oratory too prevalent at the Capitol, they were de-
lighted with the pleasing voice and easy manner of
the burly, gray-haired, rosy-cheeked Briton, who made
no gestures, but stood most of the time with his hands
in his pockets, as if he were talking with friends at a
cozy fireside. He did not deal, like Cervantes, with
the ridiculous extravagance of a fantastic order, nor,
THACKERAY AND MAJOR LANE.
like Washington Irving, with the faults and foibles of
men, but he struck at the very heart of the social life
of his countrymen's ancestors with caustic and relent-
less satire. Some of the more puritanical objected to
the moral tendencies of Thackeray's lectures, and
argued that the naughty scapegraces of the British
court should not have been thus exhumed for the edi-
fication of an American audience.
432 Per ley's Reminiscences.
Thackeray made himself at home among the work-
ing journalists at Washington, and was always asking
questions. He was especially interested in the trial of
Herbert, a California Congressman, who had shot dead
at a hotel table a waiter who had not promptly served
him, and he appeared to study old Major Lane, a
" hunter from Kentucky," " half horse and half alliga-
tor," but gentlemanly in his manners, and partial to
rye-whisky, ruffled shirts, gold-headed canes, and draw-
poker. The Major had fought — so he said — under
Jackson at New Orleans, under Houston at San
Jacinto, and under Zach. Taylor at Buena Vista, and
he was then prosecuting a claim before Congress for
his services as an agent among the Yazoo Indians.
It was better than a play to hear him talk, and to
observe Thackeray as he listened.
Rembrandt Peale visited Washington during the
Pierce Administration, and greatly interested those
who met him with his reminiscences. His birth took
place while his father, Charles Wilson Peale, was in
camp at Valley Forge. After the War of the Revolu-
tion, and while Washington was a resident of Phila-
delphia, Charles Wilson Peale painted several portraits
of him. Young Rembrandt used to pass much of his
time in the studio, and in 1786, when the best of the
portraits was painted, he stood at the back of his father's
chair watching the operation. In 1795, when he was
but seventeen years of age, he had himself become a
good painter, and Washington then honored him with
three sittings of three hours each. The young artist,
who was naturally timid and nervous in such a pres-
ence and at such a work, got his father to begin a por-
trait at the same time, and to keep the General in
conversation while the work went on. The study of
Rembrandt Peale.
433
Washington's head then painted by Rembrandt Peale
served as the basis of the famous portrait of him which
he afterward painted, and which was pronounced by
contemporaries of Washington his best likeness. It
was exhibited to admiring crowds in Europe and the
United States, and in 1832 was purchased for two
REMBRANDT PEALE'S WASHINGTON.
thousand dollars by the Federal Government, to be
hung in the Capitol.
Rev. Charles W. Upham, who represented the Essex
district of Massachusetts in Congress, was at one time
a victim to our copyright laws. He had compiled with
care a life of General Washington, from his own let-
ters, which was, therefore, in some sense, an autobiog-
28
434 Perley*s Reminiscences.
raphy. The holders of copyright in Washington's
letters, including, if I am not mistaken, Jndge Wash-
ington and Dr. Sparks, considered the publication of
this book by Marsh, Capen & Lyons, of Boston, who
had no permission from them, as an infringement of
their copyright. The curious question thus presented
was tried before Judge Story, who held that it was an
infringement, and granted an injunction against the
sale of the book. The plates, thus becoming worthless
here, were sold to an English house, which printed
them.
Jullien, the great musician, gave two concerts at the
National Theatre, Washington, in the fall of 1853,
with his large orchestra and a galaxy of glorious stars.
The effect of many of their performances was over-
powering, and the enraptured multitude often for a
moment appeared to forget their accustomed restraints,
and arose to wave their scarfs or hats in triumph, or
blended their shouts of applause with the concluding
strains of the " Quadrille Nationale," and other en-
trancing pieces. The solos were all magnificent and
the entire performance was a triumphant success.
THADDEUS STEVENS was born at Peacham, Vermont, April 4th, 1792 ; was a Representative from
Pennsylvania, December 3d, 1849, to March ist, 1853, and again December sth, 1859, to August
nth, 1868, when he died at Washington City.
CHAPTER XXXV.
CHIVALRY, AT HOME AND ABROAD.
EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS— THE OSTEND MANIFESTO — MR. BUCHANAN
AT LONDON— THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA DEBATE — SPICY WORDS BE-
TWEEN BRECKINRIDGE AND CUTTING— DIPLOMATIC CARD-PLAYING
ASSISTANT SECRETARY THOMAS — THE AMOSKEAG VETERANS.
PRESIDENT PIERCE, seconded by Secretary
Marcy, made his foreign appointments with
great care. Mr. Buchanan was sent as Minis-
ter to the Court of St. James, a position for which he
was well qualified, and John Y. Mason, of Virginia,
was accredited to France. The support given to the
Democratic party by the adopted citizens of the Re-
public was acknowledged by the appointment of Mr.
Soule, a Frenchman, who had been expelled from his
native land as a revolutionist, as Minister to Spain ;
Robert Dale Owen, an Englishman, noted for his agra-
rian opinions, as Minister to Naples, and Auguste
Belmont, Austrian born, Minister to the Netherlands.
The civil appointments, of every official grade, large
in their number and extended in their influence upon
various localities and interests, were made with distin-
guished ability and sagacity, and were received with
general and widespread satisfaction. The President's
thorough knowledge of men, his intimate acquaintance
with the relations of sections heretofore temporarily
separated from the great mass of the Democracy, and
his quick perception of the ability and character essen-
435
436
Perley^s Reminiscences.
tial to the faithful performance of duty were active
throughout, and he kept constantly in sight his avowed
determination to unite the Democratic party upon the
principles by which he won his election. Where so
many distinguished names were presented for his con-
sideration, and where disappointment was the inevit-
able fate of large numbers, a degree of complaint was
unavoidable. But no sooner was the fund of Execu-
tive patronage well-
nigh exhausted than
might be heard " cur-
ses, not loud butdeep."
Presently, as the num-
ber of disappointed
place-hunters increas-
ed, the tide of indig-
nation began to swell,
and the chorus of dis-
content grew louder
and louder, until the
whole land was filled
with the clamors of
a multitudinous army
of martyrs. For the
first three months af-
ter the inauguration the Democratic party was a model
of decorum, harmony, and contentment. All was delight
and enthusiasm. Frank Pierce was the man of the
time ; his Cabinet was an aggregation of the wisdom of
the country ; his policy the very perfection of states-
manship. Even the Whigs did not utter one word of
discontent. Frank Pierce was still President, his Cabi-
net unchanged, his policy the same, but all else, how
changed ! But it was no fault of his. He had but fifty
OFFICE SEEKERS.
Growing Dissatisfactions. 437
thousand offices to dispense, which, in the nature of
things, could go but a short way to appease the hunger
of two hundred thousand applicants. For every ap-
pointment there were two disappointments, for every
friend secured he made two enemies. A state of uni-
versal satisfaction was succeeded by a state of violent
discontent, and the Administration, without any fault
•of its own, encountered the opposition of those who
but a few weeks previously were loudest in its praise.
In order to re-enlist public favor and to reunite the
Democratic party, Messrs. Buchanan, Mason, and
-Soule, United States Ministers respectively to England,
France, and Spain, were ordered by the President,
through Mr. Marcy, to meet at Ostend. There, after
mature deliberations, and in obedience to instructions
from Washington, they prepared, signed, and issued a
brief manifesto, declaring that the United States ought
to purchase Cuba with as little delay as possible.
Political, commercial, and geographical reasons there-
for were given, and it was asserted in conclusion that
41 the Union can never enjoy repose, nor possess re-
liable security, so long as Cuba is not embraced within
its boundaries." This was carrying out the views of
Mr. Buchanan, who, when Secretary of State, in June,
1848, had, under the instructions of President Polk,
•offered Spain one hundred million of dollars for the
island.
Mr. Buchanan had accepted the mission to England,
that he might from a distance pull every available
wire to secure the nomination in 1856, coyly denying
all the time that he wanted to be President. In a
heretofore unpublished letter of his, dated September
5th, 1853, which is in my collection of autographs, he
says : " You propounded a question to me before I
438 Per ley's Reminiscences.
left the United States which I have not answered. I
shall now give it an answer in perfect sincerity, with-
out the slightest mental reservation. I have neither
the desire nor the intention again to become a candi-
date for the Presidency. On the contrary, this mission
is tolerable to me alone because it will enable me
gracefully and gradually to retire from an active par-
ticipation in party politics. Should it please Provi-
dence to prolong my days and restore me to my native
land, I hope to pass the remnant of my life at Wheat-
land, in comparative peace and tranquillity. This will
be most suitable both to my age (now past sixty-two)
and my inclinations. But whilst these are the genu-
ine sentiments of my heart, I do not think I ought to
say that in no imaginable state of circumstances would
I consent to be nominated as a candidate."
Mr. Buchanan. was greatly exercised over the court
costume which he was to wear, and finally compromised
by adopting a black evening dress suit, with the
addition of a small sword, which distinguished him
from the servants at the royal palace. He had always
been jealous of Governor Marcy, then Secretary of
State, and instead of addressing his despatches to the
Department of State, as is customary for foreign Min-
isters, he used to send them directly to the President.
It is said that General Pierce rather enjoyed seeing his
chief Cabinet officer thus snubbed, and that he used to
aggravate the slight by frequently sending answers
to Mr. Buchanan's communications himself.
Senator Judah Peter Benjamin was a dapper little
gentleman, with a small waist, who was always fault-
lessly dressed, and who was one of the hardest working
members of the Senate. Born a British subject on one
of the West India Islands, he became a citizen of the
A Senator Silenced. 439
United States by domicile very early in life. His boy-
hood was spent in a small fruit-shop kept by his father
at Charleston, but wealthy Hebrews aided him in ob-
taining an education, and his indomitable will enabled
him in due time to enter upon the practice of the law
at New Orleans. There, where nearly all legal pro-
ceedings were then duplicated in French and Knglish,
his perfect familiarity with both languages, with his
ability and his eloquence, soon enabled him to amass a
fortune. He married a Gentile, but he was always
identified with the Hebrew faith. One day when a
Senator of German extraction taunted him with being
a Jew, he said, in his silvery tones : " The gentleman
will please remember that when his half-civilized ances-
tors were hunting the wild boar in the forests of Silesia,
mine were the princes of the earth." The Senate was
electrified, and the carping Senator was quite effectually
silenced.
The proposition to repeal the Missouri Compromise
of 1820, and to admit Kansas and Nebraska as States,
with or without slavery, as their citizens might respect-
ively elect, gave rise to exciting debates. The North
was antagonistic to the South, and the champions of
freedom looked defiantly at the defenders of slavery.
One of the most exciting scenes in the House of Rep-
resentatives was between Mr. John C. Breckinridge, of
Kentucky, and Mr. Francis B. Cutting, a New York
lawyer, who had defeated Mr. James Brooks, who then
was editor of the Express.
Mr. Cutting was advocating the passage of the Sen-
ate bill, and complaining that the friends of the Ad-
ministration not only wanted to consign it to the Com-
mittee of the Whole — that tomb of the Capulets — but
they had encouraged attacks in their organs upon him
44O Perley^s Reminiscences.
and those who stood with him. Mr. Breckinridge inter-
rupted him while he was speaking, to ask if a remark
made was personal to himself, but Mr. Cutting said
that it was not. Mr. Breckinridge, interrupting Mr.
Cutting a second time, said that while he did not
want to charge the gentleman from New York with
having intentionally played the part of an assassin,
he had said, and he could not now take it back, that the
act, to all intents, was like throwing one arm around it
in friendship, and stabbing it with the other — to kill
the bill. As to a statement by the gentleman that in
the hour of his greatest need the " Hards " of New
York had come to his assistance, he could not under-
stand it, and asked for an explanation.
" I will give it," replied Mr. Cutting. " When, dur-
ing the last Congressional canvass in Kentucky, it was
intimated that the friends of the honorable Representa-
tive from the Lexington district needed assistance to
accomplish his election, my friends in New York made
up a subscription of some fifteen hundred dollars and
transmitted it to Kentucky, to be employed for the
benefit of the gentleman, who is now the peer of
Presidents and Cabinets."
" Yes, sir !" exclaimed Mr. Breckinridge, springing
to his feet, a and not only the peer of Presidents and
Cabinets, but the peer of the gentleman from New
York, fully and in every respect."
A round of applause followed this assertion, and ere
it had subsided the indomitable Mike Walsh availed
Tiimself of the opportunity to give his colleague a rap.
•" When [he said] we came here we protested against
the Administration interfering in the local affairs of
the State of New York, and now my colleague states
that a portion of his constituents have been guilty of
The Combat Deepens. 441
the same interference in the affairs of the people of
Kentucky." " Is that all," said Mr. Cutting, in a
sneering tone, " that the gentleman from New York
rose for ?" " That's all," replied Mr. Walsh, " but I
will be on hand by and by, though."
Mr. Breckinridge, his eyes flashing fire, remarked
in measured tones that the gentleman from New York
should have known the truth of what he uttered before
he pronounced it on this floor. He (Mr. B.) was not
aware that any intimations were sent from Kentucky
that funds were needed to aid in his election, nor was
he aware that they were received. He did not under-
take to say what the fact might be in regard to what
the gentleman had said, but he had no information
whatever of that fact. He (Mr. B.) came to Congress
not by the aid of money, but against the use of money.
The gentleman could not escape by any subtlety or by
any ingenuity a thorough and complete exposure of
any ingenious device to which he might resort for the
purpose of putting gentlemen in a false position, and
the sooner he stopped that game the better.
Mr. Cutting, who was also very much excited, made
an angry reply, in which he stated " that he had given
the gentleman an opportunity of indulging in one of
the most violent, inflammatory, and personal assaults
that had ever been known upon this floor ; and he would
ask how could the gentleman disclaim any attack
upon him. The whole tenor and scope of the speech
of the gentleman from Kentucky was an attack upon
his motives in moving to commit the bill. It was
in vain for the gentleman to attempt to escape by
disclaiming it ; the fact was before the Committee.
But he would say to the gentleman that he scorned his
imputation. How dare the gentleman undertake to
442 Perley^s Reminiscences.
assert that lie had professed friendship for the measure
with a view to kill it, to assassinate it by sending it to
the bottom of the calendar ? And then, when he said
that the Committee of the Whole had under its control
the House bill upon this identical subject, which the
Committee intended to take up, discuss, amend, and
report to the House, the gentleman skulked behind the
Senate bill, which had been sent to the foot of the
calendar!"
"Skulked!" hissed Mr. Breckinridge. "I ask the
gentleman to withdraw that word !"
" I withdraw nothing !" replied Mr. Cutting. " I have
uttered what I have said in answer to one of the most
violent and most personal attacks that has ever been
witnessed upon this floor."
" Then," said Mr. Breckinridge, " when the gentle-
man says I skulked, he says what is false !" The
Southern members began to gather around the excited
Kentuckian, and the Speaker, pounding with his gavel>
pronounced the offensive remark out of order.
" Mr. Chairman," quietly remarked Mr. Cutting, " I
do not intend upon this floor to answer the remark
which the gentleman from Kentucky has thought
proper to employ. It belongs to a different region.
It is not here that I will desecrate my lips with under-
taking to retort in that manner."
This settled the question, and a duel appeared to be
inevitable. The usual correspondence followed, but
President Pierce and other potent friends of the would-
be belligerents interfered, and the difficulty was ami-
cably adjusted, under " the code of honor," without
recourse to weapons.
Governor Marcy, President Pierce's Secretary of
State, was a great card-player, and Mr. Labouchere
Whist as a Tonic. 443
tells a good story which happened when he was Secre-
tary of the British Legation at Washington. " I
went," said he, " with the British Minister, to a pleas-
ant watering-place in Virginia, where we were to meet
Mr. Marcy, the then United States Secretary of State,
and a reciprocity treaty between Canada and the United
States was to be quietly discussed. Mr. Marcy, the
most genial of men, was as cross as a bear. He would
agree to nothing. ' What on earth is the matter with
your chief?' I said to a secretary who accompanied
him. ' He does not have his rubber of whist,' an-
swered the secretary. After this every night the Min-
•ister and I played at whist with Mr. Marcy and his
secretary, and every night we lost. The stakes were
very trifling, but Mr. Marcy felt flattered by beating
the Britishers at what he called their own game. His
good humor returned, and every morning when the
details of the treaty were being discussed we had
our revenge, and scored a few points for Canada." A
true account of the money designedly lost at Washington
by diplomats, heads of departments, and Congressmen
would give a deep insight into the secret history of
legislation. What Representative could vote against
the claim of a man whose money he had been winning,
in small sums, it is true, all winter ?
General John A. Thomas, of New York, who was
Assistant Secretary of State during a part of President
Pierce's Administration, was a fine, soldierly looking
man, very gentlemanly in his deportment. He was a
native of Tennessee, and was for several years an
officer in the United States Army, commanding at one
time the corps of cadets. He married a Miss Ronalds,
who belonged to an old New York family, and he took
her with him when he went abroad as Solicitor to the
444
Perlefs Reminiscences.
Board of Commissioners appointed by the President to
adjust the claims of American citizens upon the
British Government. Mr. Buchanan was the Ameri-
can Minister at the Court of St. James, and Mr. Sickles
Secretary of Legation. Mrs. Thomas having ex-
pressed a wish to be presented at court, Mr. Buchanan
assented, and, when the day for presentation arrived,
requested Mrs. Thomas to place herself under the
charge of Mrs. Sickles,
who would accompany
her to the palace of St.
James. This arrange-
ment Mrs. Thomas de-
cidedly declined, and
by so doing gave so
much offense to Mr.
Buchanan that she was
never presented at
court at all. Nor did
the matter end here.
When Mr. Buchanan
came to the Presiden-
cy he found General
Thomas filling the of-
fice of Assistant Sec-
retary of State. From this office he immediately
ejected him, for the old grudge he bore Mrs. Thomas
for refusing to go to court with Mrs. Sickles, as
General Thomas declared to his friends. Mr. Buch-
anan was always very fond of Mr. Sickles and his
wife, and it was said that he narrowly escaped being
in the Sickles' house when Barton Key was shot down
after coming from it.
The Amoskeag Veterans, of Manchester, New
MRS. DANIEL SICKLES.
446 Perley*s Reminiscences.
Hampshire, a volunteer corps which wore the Conti-
nental uniform and marched to the music of drums
and fifes, came to Washington to pay their respects to
the President, who received them with lavish hospital-
ity. They visited Mount Vernon under escort of a
detachment of volunteer officers, and were escorted by
the venerable G. W. P. Custis around the old home
of his illustrious relative. At a ball given in the
evening the " old man eloquent " wore the epaulettes
originally fastened on his shoulders by him who was
" first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of
his countrymen." The sword given him by General
Washington t .Mr. Custis had presented to his son-in-
law, Captain Robert B. Lee, of the Engineer Corps,
during the Mexican campaign.
JOHN TYLER was born in Charles City County, Virginia March 2gth, 1790; was a Representative
visional Congress of the Confederate States, which assembled at Richmond in July, 1861 ; was
elected a Representative from Virginia in the first Confederate Congress, but died at Richmond,
Virginia, before taking his seat, January i?th, 1862.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
FORMATION OP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY — THE ELECTION OP SPEAKER —
MR. BANKS TRIUMPHANT — DIVISION OP THE SPOILS — A PROTRACTED
SESSION— ASSAULT ON HORACE GREELEY— TERRITORIAL DELEGATES
— THE SENATE— THE VIRGINIA SENATORS— " HALE," OF NEW HAMP-
SHIRE.
THE repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the
enactment of the Fugitive Slave L/aw re-
opened the flood-gates of sectional contro-
versy. The Native American organisation was used
at the North by the leading Abolitionists for the dis-
integration of the Whigs, and they founded a new
political party, with freedom inscribed upon its banners. .
The Free-Soil Democrats who had rebelled against
Southern rule, with the Liberty Whigs, and those who
were more openly arrayed against slavery, united, and
were victorious at the Congressional elections in the
Northern States in the autumn of 1854. " The moral
idea became a practical force," and the " Irrepressible
Conflict " was commenced. " As Republicans," said
Charles Sumner, " we go forth to encounter the oli-
garchs of slavery."
The great contest was opened by a struggle in the
House of Representatives over the Speakership. Na-
thaniel Prentiss Banks, a Democrat, who had joined
the Know-Nothings, was the Northern candidate,
although Horace Greeley, with Thurlow Weed and
447
44-S Perlefs Reminiscences.
William Schouler as his aides-de-camp, endeavored to
elect Lewis D. Campbell, an Ohio American. The
Southern Know-Nothings voted at one time for Henry
M. Fuller, of Pennsylvania, but they dropped him
like a hot potato when they learned that he had ac-
cepted a place on the Republican Committee of his
State. William Aiken, a large slaveholder in South
Carolina, was the favorite Southern candidate, although
the vote of the solid South was successively given to
several others. Meanwhile, as day after day passed,
the President's message was withheld, and all legisla-
tion was at a dead-lock. The Sergeant-at-Arms, Colo-
nel Glossbrenner, an ex-member of the House, ob-
tained a loan of twenty thousand dollars from a bank
in Pennsylvania, which enabled him to make advances
to impecunious^ members of both parties, and thus to
insure his re-election.
Early in January an attempt was made to " sit it
out," and all night the excited House seethed like a
boiling caldron ; verdant novices were laughed down
as they endeavored to make some telling point, while
sly old stagers lay in ambush to spring out armed with
" points of order." Hmasculate conservatives were
snubbed by followers of new prophets ; belligerent
Southrons glared fiercely at phlegmatic Yankees ; one
or two intoxicated Solons gabbled sillily upon every
question, and sober clergymen gaped, as if sleepy and
disgusted with political life. Banks, unequaled in his
deportment, was as cool as a summer cucumber ; Aiken,
his principal opponent, was courteous and gentleman-
like to all; Giddings wore a broad-brimmed hat to
shield his eyes from the rays of the gas chandelier ;
Stephens, of Georgia, piped forth his shrill response,
and Senator Wilson went busily about " whipping-in."
An All-night Session.
449
Soon after midnight the South Americans began to
relate their individual experience in true camp-meeting
style, the old-line Democrats were rampant, the few
Whigs were jubilant, and the bone of Catholicism was
pretty well picked by those who had been peeping
at politics through dark-lanterns, and who were " know-
nothings " about what they had done. In short, every
COMPLETELY EATEN OUT.
imaginable topic of discussion, in order or out of order,
was lugged in to kill time.
Meanwhile the supply of ham at the eating-counter
below-stairs was exhausted, the oysters were soon after
minus, and those who had brought no lunch had to
mumble ginger-cakes. It was remarked by good
judges that as the morning advanced the coffee grew
weaker, suggesting a possibility that the caterer could
not distinguish between cocoa and cold water, and only
29
450 Perley^s Reminiscences.
replenished his boiler with the latter. There were
more questions of order, more backing people up to
vote, and an increase of confusion. Men declared
that they would " stick," while they entreated others
to shift, and as daylight streamed in upon the scene,
the political gamesters had haggard and careworn
countenances. The result of the night's work was no
choice.
At last, after nine long, tedious weeks, the agony
was over, and Massachusetts furnished the Thirty-
fourth Congress with its Speaker. Although what
was termed " Americanism " played an important
though concealed part in the struggle, the real battle
was between the North and the South — the stake was
the extension of slavery. When the decisive vote was
reached the galleries were packed with ladies, who,
like the gentle dames in the era of chivalry, sat inter-
ested lookers-on as the combating parties entered the
arena. On the one side was Mr. Aiken, a Representa-
tive from the chivalric, headstrong State of South
Carolina, the son of an Irishman, the inheritor of an
immense wealth, and the owner of eleven hundred
slaves. Opposed to him was Mr. Banks, of Massachu-
setts, a State which was the very antipodes of South
Carolina in politics, who, by his own exertions, un-
aided by a lineage or wealth or anything save his own
indomitable will, had conquered a position among an
eminently conservative people. Voting was com-
menced, and each minute seemed an age, as some
members had to explain their votes, but at length the
tellers began to " foot up." It had been agreed that
the result should be announced by the teller belonging
to the party of the successful candidate, and when the
sheet was handed to Mr. Benson, of Maine, the "be-
Banks Elected Speaker.
451
ginning of the end " was known,
he announced that Nathaniel
P. Banks, Jr., had received one
hundred and three votes ; Wil-
liam Aiken, one hundred ; H.
M. Fuller, six ; L. D. Camp-
bell, four, and Daniel Wells,
Jr., of Wisconsin, one. The
election was what a French-
man would call an " accom-
plished fact," and hearty
cheers were heard on all sides, j:,-
ii»-
Magnanimity is not a prom-
inent ingredient in political
character, and some factious
objections were made, but Mr.
Aiken soon put a stop to
them. Rising with that dig-
nity peculiar to wealthy and
portly gentlemen of ripe
years, he requested permis-
sion to conduct the Speaker-
elect to the chair. This dis-
armed opposition, and after
some formalities, he was au-
thorized, by a large majority
resolve, to perform the duty,
accompanied by Messrs. Ful-
ler and Campbell. Cheer after
cheer, with waving of hats
and ladies' handkerchiefs, an-
nounced that on the one hun-
dred and thirty-third vote the
Speaker's chair was occupied.
Radiant with joy.
THE SPEAKER'S MACE.
The mace, emblem of the
452
Perley's Reminiscences.
Speaker's authority, was brought from its resting-place
and elevated at his side. The House was organized.
The address of Mr. Banks, free from, all cant, and
delicately alluding to those American principles to
SPEAKER NATHANIEL P. BANKS.
which he owed his office, was happily conceived and ad-
mirably delivered. Then old Father Giddings, stand-
ing beneath the large chandelier, with his silvery locks
flowing picturesquely around his head, held up his
Dividing the Spoils. 453
hand and administered the oath of office. The authori-
tative gavel was handed up by Colonel Forney, who
was thanked by a resolution complimenting him for
the ability with which he had presided during the pro-
tracted contest, and then the House adjourned.
It then became necessary to divide the spoils, and
after an exciting contest, Cornelius Wendell, a Demo-
cratic nominee, was elected Printer to the House by
Republican votes, in consideration of certain percent-
ages of his profits paid to designated parties. The
House binding was given to Mr. Williams, editor of the
Toledo Blade, a lawyer by profession, who had never
bound a book in his life. Mr. Robert Farnham paid
him a considerable sum for his contract, and the work
was done by Mr. Tretler, a practical bookbinder. Mr.
Simon Hanscomb, who had been efficient in bringing
about the nomination of Mr. Banks, received a twelve-
hundred dollar sinecure clerkship, and others who had
aided in bringing about the result were cared for.
One Massachusetts Representative had his young son
appointed a page by the doorkeeper, but when Speaker
Banks learned of it, he ordered the appointment to be
canceled. Luckily for the lad, the father was enabled
to secure for him an appointment as a cadet at West
Point, and he became a gallant officer.
The first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress was
protracted until the i8th of August, 1856, and it was
distinguished by acrimonious debate. The most re-
markable speaker was Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, of
whom it might be said, as of St. Paul, " his bodily
presence is weak," while his thin, shrill voice, issuing
as it were by jerks from his narrow chest, recalled John
Randolph. Contrasting widely in size was the burly
Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky, who had won
454
Perley*s Reminiscences.
laurels in the Mexican War, as had the gallant Gen-
eral Qnitman, a Representative from Mississippi.
Henry Winter Davis, of Baltimore, and Anson Burlin-
game, of Boston, were the most eloquent and enthusi-
astic of those who had been washed into Congress by
the Know-Nothing wave, and with them had come
some ignorant and bigoted fellows. Equally promi-
nent, but better qualified, on the other side was John
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW IN OPERATION.
Kelly, who had defeated the candidates brought out by
" Sam " and " Sambo " to oppose him. The venerable
Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio, who led the abolition
forces, was as austerely bitter as Cato was in ancient
Utica when he denounced the Fugitive Slave Law,
under the operations of which many runaway slaves
were captured at the North and returned to their
Southern masters.
Greeley Assaulted. 455
The eloquence of Mr. Clingman, who represented
North Carolina, was alternately enlivened by epigram-
matic wit or envenomed by scorching reply. Mr. Jus-
tin S. Morrill, of Vermont, was commencing a long and
useful Congressional career. Mr. Schuyler Colfax, an
editor-politician, represented an Indiana district. The
veteran Mr. Charles J. Faulkner, with his choleric son-
in-law, Mr. Thomas S. Bocock, and the erratic and
chivalrous Judge Caskie, represented Virginia districts.
Mr. Blihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, sat near his
brother, Israel D. Washburne, of Maine. Mr. Lyman
Trumbull, of Illinois, was then an ardent Republican,
and so was Mr. Francis E. Spinner, of New York, whose
wonderful autograph afterward graced public securities.
Mr. Albert Rust, one of the Representatives from
Arkansas, won some notoriety by attacking Horace
Greeley at his hotel. The next day he was brought
before Justice Morsell, and gave bonds to appear at the
next session of the Criminal Court. He appeared to
glory in what he had done. Mr. Greeley was evidently
somewhat alarmed, and during the remainder of his
sojourn at Washington his more stalwart friends took
care that he should not be unaccompanied by a
defender when he appeared in public.
The Territory of Utah was represented in the House
by Mr. John N. Burnhisel, a small, dapper gentleman,
who in deportment and tone of voice resembled Robert
J. Walker. It was very rarely that he participated in
debate, and his forte was evidently taciturnity. In
private conversation he was fluent and agreeable, de-
fending the peculiar domestic institutions of his people.
The delegate from Oregon was Mr. Joseph Lane, who
had served bravely in the Mexican War, gone to
Oregon as its first Governor, and been returned as its
456 Perley^s Reminiscences.
first Territorial Delegate. He was a keen-eyed, trimly
built man, of limited education, but the possessor of
great common sense. Henry M. Rice, the first Dele-
gate from the Territory of Minnesota, had been for
years an Indian trader in connection with the Ameri-
can Fur Company, and was thoroughly acquainted
with the people he represented, and whose interests he
faithfully served. New Mexico, then a terra incognita,
was represented by Don Jose Manuel Gallegos, a
native of the Territory, who had been educated in the
Catholic schools of Mexico, and who was devoted to
the Democratic party. He had as a rival Don Miguel
A. Otero, also a native of New Mexico, who had been
educated at St. Louis, and whose Democracy was of
the more liberal school. He successfully contested the
seat of Mr. Gallegos in the Thirty-fourth Congress,
and secured his re-election in the two ensuing ones.
The Senate was behind the House in entering into
the " irrepressible conflict." The death of Vice-Presi-
dent King having left the chair of the presiding officer
vacant, it was filled pro tempore by Mr. Jesse D.
Bright, of Indiana. He was a man of fine presence,
fair abilities, and a fluent speaker, thoroughly devoted
.to the Democratic party as then controlled by the
South. He regarded the anti-slavery movement as the
offspring of a wanton desire to meddle with the affairs
of other people, and to grasp political power, or — to
use the words of one who became an ardent Republican
— a:s the product of hypocritical selfishness, assuming
the mask and cant of philanthropy merely to rob the
South and to enrich New England. The rulings of
the Chair, while it was occupied by Senator Bright,
were all in favor of the South and of the compromises
which had been entered into. The Secretary of the
Southern Senators.
457
Senate, its Sergeant-at-Arnis, its door-keepers, messen-
gers, and even its little pages, were subservient to the
South.
Mr. James Murray Mason, a type of the old patrician
families of Virginia, was one of the few remaining
polished links between the statesmen of those days and
of the past. His first ancestor in Virginia, George
Mason, commanded a regiment of cavalry in the Cava-
lier army of Charles
Stuart (afterward
Charles II) in the cam-
paign against the
Roundhead troops of
Oliver Cromwell. Af-
ter the defeat of the
royal forces at the battle
of Worcester, Colonel
Mason escaped to Vir-
ginia, and soon after-
ward established a plan-
tation on the Potomac,
where his lineal de-
scendants resided gene-
ration after generation.
The future Senator was
educated at Georgetown, in the then infant days of the
Federal city, and the society of such statesmen as then
sat in the councils of the republic was in itself an
education. He possessed -a stalwart figure, a fine, im-
posing head covered with long gray hair, a pleasing
countenance, and a keen eye. No Senator had a
greater reverence for the peculiar institutions of the
South, or a more thorough contempt for the Abolition-
ists of the North. His colleague, Mr. Robert M. T.
JAMES MURRAY MASON.
458
Perley's Reminiscences.
Hunter, was of less aristocratic lineage, but had re-
ceived a more thorough education. He had served in
the Twenty-sixth Congress as Speaker of the House,
and he was thoroughly acquainted with parliamentary
law and usages. He had also paid great attention to
finance and to the tariff questions. Solidly built, with
a massive head and a determined manner, he was very
impressive in debate, and his speeches on financial
questions were listened
to with great attention.
John P. Hale was a
prominent figure in
the Senate, and never
failed to command at-
tention. The keen
shafts of the South-
erners, aimed at him,
fell harmlessly at his
feet, and his wonder-
ful good nature dis-
armed malicious oppo-
sition. Those who felt
that he had gone far
astray in his political
opinions did not ac-
cuse him of selfish motives, sordid purposes, or de-
graded intrigues. His was the "chasseur" style of
oratory — now skirmishing on the outskirts of an oppo-
nent's position, then rallying on some strange point,
pouring in a rattling fire, standing firm against a
charge, and ever displaying a perfect independence of
action and a disregard of partisan drill.
President Pierce felt very unkindly toward Mr. Hale.
At an evening reception, when the Senator from New
JOHN P. HALE.
An Insult in High Society. 459
Hampshire approached, escorting his wife and daugh-
ter, the President spoke to the ladies, but deliberately
turned his back upon Mr. Hale. This action by one
so courteous as was General Pierce created much com-
ment, and was the subject of earnest discussion in
drawing-rooms as well as at the Capitol.
LEWIS CASS was born at Exeter, New Hampshire, October pth, 178^; crossed the Allegany
Mountains on foot when seventeen years of age to Ohio, where he commenced the practice of law ;
was colonel of the Third Ohio Volunteers, which was a part of General Hull's army, surrendered
at Detroit, August i6th, 1812; was Governor of Michigan Territory, 1813-1831; was Secretary of
War under President Jackson, 1831-1836; was Minister to France, October 4th, 1836, to November
i2th, 1842 ; was United States Senator from Michigan, December vst. 1845, to May 2gth, 1848 ; was
defeated as the Democratic candidate for President in the fall of 1848; was elected to fill the vacancy
in the Senate, occasioned by his own resignation, December 3d, 1849, to March 3d, 1857; was Sec-
retary of State under President Buchanan, March 4th, 1857, to December I7th, 1860, when he re-
signed ; retired to Detroit, Michigan, where he died, June i/th, 1866.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
POLITICAL STORM AND SOCIAL SUNSHINE.
SUMNER, OP MASSACHUSETTS— THE ASSAULT ON SUMNER — TROUBLOUS
TIMES — CONGRESSIONAL COURTESIES — SENATORIAL WIT — CONVEN-
TION OF OLD SOLDIERS — SOCIAL ROUTINE AT THE WHITE HOUSE —
SOCIETY GATHERINGS.
CHARLES SUMNER had not spoken on the
slavery question immediately on taking his
seat in the Senate, and some of his abolition
friends in Boston had began to fear that he, too, had
been enchanted by the Circe of the South. Theodore
Parker said, in a public speech : "I wish he had spoken
long ago, but it is for him to decide, not us. ' A
fool's bolt is soon shot,' while a wise man often reserves
his fire." But Senator Seward, who had been taught
by experience how far a Northern man could go in op-
position to the slave-power, advised him that " retorted
scorn " would be impolitic and perhaps unsafe.
Mr. Sumner, however, soon began to occupy the
floor of the Senate Chamber when he could get an op-
portunity. His speeches were able and exhaustive dis-
quisitions, polished and repolished before their delivery,
and arraigning the South in stately and measured sen-
tences which contained stinging rebukes. The bold-
ness of his language soon attracted public attention
and secured his recognition as the chosen champion of
Freedom. One afternoon, while he was speaking, Sen-
ator Douglas, walking up and down behind the Presi-
460
Sumner1 s Personal Appearance. 461
dent's chair in the old Senate Chamber and listening
to him, remarked to a friend : " Do you hear that man ?
He may be a fool, but I tell you that man has pluck.
I wonder whether he knows himself what he is doing ?
I am not sure whether I should have the courage to say
those things to the men who are scowling around him."
Mr. Sumner was at that time strikingly prepossess-
ing in his appearance :
" Not that his dress attracted vulgar eyes,
With Fashion's gewgaws flauntingly display'd ;
He had the bearing of the gentleman ;
And nobleness of mind illumined his mien,
Winning at once attention and respect."
He was over six feet in stature, with a broad chest and
graceful manners. His features, though not perhaps
strictly regular, were classical, and naturally of an ani-
mated cast ; his hazel eyes were somewhat inflamed by
night-work ; he wore no beard, except a small pair of
side-whiskers, and his black hair lay in masses over
his high forehead. I do not remember to have ever
seen two finer-looking men in Washington than
Charles Sumner and Salmon P. Chase, as they came
together to a dinner-party at the British Legation, each
wearing a blue broadcloth dress-coat with gilt buttons,
a white waistcoat, and black trowsers.
The conservative Senators soon treated Mr. Sumner
as a fanatic unfit to associate with them, and they re-
fused him a place on any committee, as " outside of
any political organization." This stimulated him in
the preparation of a remarkable arraignment of the
slave-power, which he called the " crime against
Kansas." It was confidentially printed before its
delivery that advance copies might be sent to distant
cities, and nearly every one permitted to read it, includ-
462
Perlefs Reminiscences.
ing Mr. William H. Seward, advised Mr. Sumner
to tone down its offensive features. But he refused.
He was not, as his friend Carl Schurz afterward re-
marked, " conscious of the stinging force of the lan-
guage he frequently employed," " and he was not unfre-
quently surprised, greatly surprised, when others found
his language offensive." He delivered the speech as it
had been written and printed, occupying two days, and
he provoked the South-
ern Senators and their
friends beyond mea-
sure.
Preston S. Brooks, a
tall, fine-looking Rep-
resentative from South
Carolina, who had
served gallantly in the
Mexican War, was in-
cited to revenge cer-
tain phrases used by
Mr. Sumner, which he
was told reflected upon
his uncle, Senator But-
ler. Entering the Sen-
ate Chamber one da}'-
after the adjournment, he went up to Mr. Sumner, who
sat writing at his desk, with his head down, and dealt
him several severe blows on the back of his head with
a stout gutta-percha cane as he would have cut at him
right and left with a dragoon's broadsword.
Mr. Sumner's long legs were stretched beneath his
desk, so that he was pinioned when he tried to rise,
and the blood from the wound on his head blinded him.
In his struggle he wrenched his desk from the floor,
PRESTON S. BROOKS.
Sumner*s Sufferings.
463
to which it had been screwed, but before he could gain
his feet his assailant had gratified his desire to punish
him. Several persons had witnessed this murderous
assault without interfering, and when Mr. Sumner,
stunned and bleeding, was led to a sofa in the ante-
room, Mr. Brooks was congratulated on what he had
done.
For two years Mr. Sumner was a great sufferer, but
the people of Massa-
chusetts, recognizing
him as their champion,
kept his empty chair
in the Senate ready for
him to occupy again
when he became con-
valescent. A chival-
rous sympathy for him
as he endured the
cruel treatment pre-
scribed by modern
science contributed to
his fame, and he be-
came the leading
champion of liberty in
the impending conflict
for freedom. Mr. Seward regarded the situation with a
complacent optimism, Mr. Hale good-naturedly joked
with the Southern Senators, and Mr. Chase drifted along
with the current, all of them adorning but not in any
way shaping the tide of events. With Mr. Sumner it
was different, for he possessed that root of statesmanship
— the power of forethought. Although incapacitated
for Senatorial duties, his earnest words, like the blast
of a trumpet, echoed through the North, and he was
ANSON BURLINGAME.
464 Perley^s Reminiscences.
recognized as the martyr-leader of the Republican
party. The injury to his nervous system was great,
"but the effect of Brooks' blows upon the slave-holding
system was still more injurious. Before Mr. Sumner
had resumed his seat both Senator Butler and Repre-
sentative Brooks had passed away.
The debate in the House of Representatives on a
resolution censuring Mr. Brooks for his murderous
attack (followed by his resignation and unanimous
re-election) was marked by acrimonious altercations,
with threats of personal violence by the excited South-
erners, who found themselves on the defensive. Henry
Wilson and other Northern Congressmen went about
armed with revolvers, and gave notice that while they
would not fight duels, they would defend themselves
if attacked. Mr. Anson Burlingame, who had come
from Michigan to complete his studies at Harvard
College, married the daughter of a wealthy Boston
merchant, and been elected to Congress by the Know-
Nothings and Abolitionists, accepted a challenge from
Mr. Brooks. He selected the Clifton House, on the
Canadian shore of Niagara Falls, as the place of meet-
ing, which the friends of Mr. Brooks declared was
done that the duel could not take place, as Mr. Brooks
could not pass through the Northern States, where he
was so universally hated. Mr. Lewis D. Campbell,
who was Mr. Burlingame's second, repelled this insinu-
ation, and was confident that his principal " meant
business."
During the administration of President Pierce, Con-
gress created the rank of Lieutenant-General, and
General Scott received the appointment. He estab-
lished his head -quarters at Washington, and ap-
peared on several occasions in full uniform riding a
Lieutenant- General Scott.
465
spirited charger. Colonel Jefferson Davis, then Secre-
tary of War, and "Old Chapultepec," as Scott was
familiarly called by army officers, did not get along
harmoniously, and the President invariably sided with
liis Secretary of War. Mr. Seward, meanwhile, busily
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SCOTT.
availed himself of the opportunity to alienate General
Scott from his Southern friends.
While the Northern and Southern politicians " bit
their thumbs " at each other, the followers and the
opponents of Senator Douglas in the Democratic
30
466 Perley^s Reminiscences.
ranks became equally hostile, and in some instances
belligerent. I was then the associate editor of the
Evening Star, a lively local sheet owned and edited by
Mr. Douglas Wallach. Walking along Pennsylvania
Avenue one afternoon, I saw just before me Mr.
Wallach engaged in an excited controversy with an
elderly gentleman, who I afterward learned was Mr.
" Extra Billy " Smith, an ex-Representative in Con-
gress, who had grown rich by the extra allowances
made to him as a mail contractor. Bach was calling
the other hard names in a loud tone of voice, and just
as I reached them they clinched, wrestled for a moment,
and then Smith threw Wallach heavily to the sidewalk.
Sitting on his prostrate foe, Smith began to pummel
him, but at the first blow Wallach got one of his
antagonist's thumbs into his mouth, where he held it
as if it were in a vise. Smith roared, " Let go my
thumb ! you are eating it to the bone !" Just then up
came Mr. Keitt, of South Carolina, and Mr. Bocock, of
Virginia, who went to the rescue of Smith, Keitt say-
ing : " This is no way for gentlemen to settle their
disputes," as he forced Wallach's jaws apart, to re-
lease the " cha wed-up " thumb. Wallach was unin-
jured, but for several weeks he went heavily armed,
expecting that Smith would attack him.
One day Mr. McMullen, of Virginia, in advocating
the passage of a bill, alluded to some previous remarks
of the gentleman from Ohio, not the one (Mr. Gid-
dings) " who bellowed so loudly," he said, " but to
his sleek-headed colleague" (Mr. Taylor). Mr Tay-
lor, who was entering the hall just as this allusion was
made to him, replied that he would rather have a sleek
head than a blockhead.
Mr. McMullen then said : "I intended nothing per-
None too much Sense.
467
sonally offensive, which no one ought to have known
better than the gentleman himself. I made use of
the remark at which the gentleman exhibited an undue
degree of excitement to produce a little levity ; neither
of us ought to complain of our heads. If united, there
would not be more brains than enough for one common
head."
AN OLD-FASHIONED ROUGH AND TUMBLE.
Senator Jones, of Tennessee, generally called " Lean
Jimmy Jones," was the only Democrat who ever tried
to meet Mr. John P. Hale with his own weapons — ridi-
cule and sarcasm. One day, after having been worsted
in a verbal tilt, Mr. Jones sought revenge by telling a
story as illustrating his opponent's adroitness. There
was a Kentuckian, he said, whose name was Sam Wil-
who settled on the margin of the Mississippi
son,
River. He had to settle upon high lands, near swamps
468 Perley*s Reminiscences.
from ten to twenty miles wide. The swamps were
filled with, wild hogs, which were considered a species
of public property that every man had a right to shoot,
but they did not have a right thereby to shoot tame
ones.
Sam had a very large family, and was known to en-
tertain a mortal aversion to work. Yet he always lived
well and had plenty of meat. It was inquired how
Sam had always so much to eat ? Nobody saw him
work. He used to hunt and walk about, and he had
plenty of bacon constantly on hand. People began to
suspect that Sam was not only shooting \vild hogs, but
sometimes tame ones ; so they watched him a good
deal to see whether they could not catch him. Sam,
however, was too smart for them, and always evaded,
just (said Mr. Jones) as the honorable Senator from
New Hampshire does. Finally, old man Bailey was
walking out one day looking after his hogs at the
edge of the swamp, and he saw Sam going along
quietly with his gun on his shoulder. Presently Sam's
rifle was fired. Bailey walked on to the cane-brake, as
he knew he had a very fine hog there, and looking
over he found Sain in the act of drawing out his knife
to butcher it. Old man Bailey, slapping Sam on the
shoulder, said, " I have caught you at last." " Caught
thunder!" said Sam; " I will shoot all your blasted hogs
that come biting at me in this way." "That is the
way," Senator Jones went on to say, " that the Senator
from New Hampshire gets out of his scrapes."
Mrs. Pierce came to the White House sorrow-stricken
by the sad death of her only child, but she bravely de-
termined not to let her private griefs prevent the cus-
tomary entertainments. During the sessions of Con-
gress there was a state dinner once a week, to which
Social Sensations.
469
thirty-six guests were invited, and on other week-days
half-a-dozen guests partook of the family dinner, at
which no wine was served. There was also a morning
and an evening reception every week in the season, at
which Mrs. Pierce, dressed in deep mourning, received
with the President.
The evening receptions, which were equivalent to the
STATE DINING-ROOM.
drawing-rooms of foreign courts, were looked forward
to with great interest by strangers and the young
people, taxing the busy fingers of mantua-makers,
while anxious fathers reluctantly loosened their purse-
strings. Carriages and camelias were thenceforth in
demand ; white kid gloves were kept on the store coun-
ters ; and hair-dressers wished that, like the fabulous
monster, they could each have a hundred hands capable
470 Per 'ley *s Reminiscences.
of wielding the curling-tongs. When the evening
arrived, hundreds of carriages might be seen hastening
toward the spacious portico of the White House, under
which they drove and sat down their freights. In
Europe, it would have required at least a battalion of
cavalry to have preserved order, but in Washington the
coaches quietly fell into the file, and patiently awaited
their turn. At the door, the ladies turned into the pri-
vate dining-room, used as a dressing-room, from whence
they soon emerged, nearly all of them in the full glory
of evening toilet and radiant with smiles. Falling
into line, the visitors passed into the parlors, where
they were received by President Pierce and his wife.
Between the President and the door stood District Mar-
shal Hoover and one of his deputies, who inquired the
name of each unknown person, and introduced each
one successively to the President. The names of
strangers were generally misunderstood, and they were
re-baptized, to their annoyance, but President Pierce,
with winning cordiality, shook hands with each one,
and put them directly at ease, chatting pleasantly until
some one else came along, when he introduced them to
his wife.
Leaving the Presidential group and traversing the
beautiful Green Drawing-room, the guests entered the
famed Bast Room, which was filled with the talent,
beauty, and fashion of the metropolis. Hundreds of
either sex occupied the middle of the room or congre-
gated around its walls, which enshrined a maelstrom of
beauty, circling and ever changing, like the figures in
a kaleidoscope. A prominent figure in these scenes
was Edward Everett, cold-blooded and impassible, bright
and lonely as the gilt weather-cock over the church in
which he officiated ere he became a politician. John
Van Buretfs Receptions. 471
Van Buren — " Prince John," he was called — was
another notable, his conversation having the donble
charm of seeming to be thoroughly enjoyed by the
speaker and at the same time to delight the listener.
General Scott, in full uniform, was the beau ideal of a
military hero, and with him were other brave officers of
the army and of the navy, each one having his history
ashore or afloat.
GREEN DRAWING-ROOM.
The members of the Diplomatic Corps were marked
by the crosses and ribbons which they wore at their
buttonholes. . Mr. Crampton, who represented Queen
Victoria, was a noble specimen of the fine old English
gentleman, personally popular, although he did not get
along well with Secretary Marcy. The Count de
Sartiges, who had recently married Miss Thorndike, of
Boston, was an embodiment of French character, as
Baron Von Gerolt was of the Prussian, and the little
472 Perley*s Reminiscences.
Kingdom of Belgium had its diplomatist in the august
person of Monsieur Henri Bosch Spencer. Senor don
Calderon de la Barca, the Spanish Minister, was very
popular, as was his gifted wife, so favorably known to
American literature. As for the South American Re-
publics, their representatives were generally well dressed
and able to put a partner through a polka in a manner
gratifying to her and to her anxious mamma.
Then there were the office-seekers, restless, anxious,
yet confident of obtaining some place of profit ; the
office-holders, many of whom saw in passing events the
handwriting on the wall which announced their dis-
missal ; . the verdant visitors who had come to Washing-
ton to see how the country was governed ; and gener-
ally a score of Indians with gay leggings, scarlet
blankets, pouches worked with porcupine quills, and
the full glory of war paint. The Marine Band dis-
coursed sweet music, but no refreshments were offered,
so, many of the gentlemen, after having escorted the
ladies to their homes, repaired to the restaurants, where
canvas-back ducks, wild turkeys, and venison steaks
were discussed, with a running fire of champagne
corks and comments on the evening.
Secretary McClelland's series of evening receptions
were thronged with the elite of the South, and at Sec-
retary Guthrie's one could see the majestic belles of
Kentucky. The finest diplomatic entertainment was
given by the Brazilian Minister, in honor of the birth-
day of his imperial master, and the evenings when
Madame Calderon de la Barca was " at home " always
found her attractive drawing-rooms crowded. General
Almonte, the Mexican Minister, was noted for his break-
fast-parties, as was Senor Marcoleta, of Nicaragua,
who was trying hard to have an interoceanic canal cut
A Costly Frying Pan.
473
through his country. Among the Congressmen, Gov-
ernor Aikeii, of South Carolina, gave the most elegant
entertainments, at which the supper-table was orna-
mented with a silver service, " looted " in after years by
soldiers, with the exception of a large solid silver
waiter, which was found in a swamp, propped up on
four stones, and with a fire under it, some deserters
having used it to fry bacon in. A gloom was cast over
this gay society, however, by the sad fate of the wife of
Mr. Justice Daniels, of the Supreme Court, whose
clothes accidentally took fire, and burned her so terribly
that she survived but a few hours.
GEORGE WASHINGTON was born February 22d, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Va. ; was public
Surveyor when sixteen years of age ; when nineteen was Military Inspector of one of the districts
of Virginia; participated in the French and Indian war, 1753; Commander-in-Chief of the Colonial
forces in 1755; married Mrs. Martha Custis, 1759; member of the Continental Congress, 1774; Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Continental forces, 1775; resigned command, December 23d, 1783; Presi-
dent of the United States, April 3oth, 1789, to March 4th, 1797; died at Mount Vernon, December
I4th, 1799.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
GROWTH OF THE METROPOLIS.
THE CRAMPTON DIFFICULTY — UNSUCCESSFUL FRENCH MEDIATION — THE
DIPLOMATIC CORPS —INFORMATION FOR PUBLICATION — MR. BU-
CHANAN IN ENGLAND — WASHINGTON HOTELS— THE NEW HALL OF
THE HOUSE.
MR. GUSHING conceived the idea of getting
up a difficulty with Great Britain, as likely
to advance the prospects of President Pierce
for re-election, and to divert the attention of the people
from the anti-slavery question. The pretext was the
recruiting in the United States, under the direction of
the British diplomatic and consular representatives
of the Crown, of men for the regiments engaged in the
Crimean War.
Mr. Crampton, the British Minister, was a large,
well-built man, with white hair and side whiskers,
courtly manners and great conversational powers. His
father had been a celebrated surgeon in Ireland, from
whom he afterward inherited considerable property.
He lived at Carolina Place, on Georgetown Heights, in
good style, entertained liberally, rather cultivated the
acquaintance of American artists and journalists, and
was often seen going on an angling expedition to the
Great Falls of the Potomac. He undoubtedly directed
the objectionable recruiting without the slightest dip-
lomatic skill. He seemed to go to work in the rough-
474
Ministerial Misunderstandings. 475
est and rudest manner to violate our laws, as if lie did
not care a copper whether he was discovered or not,
and to comment in coarse terms upon our institutions.
Mr. Marcy, as Secretary of State, sent all the facts to
Great Britain, his despatch closing with a peremptory
demand for the recall of Mr. Crampton and the British
Consuls at New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati.
Accompanying the despatch was an elaborate opinion
by Attorney-General Gushing, who cited numerous
precedents, and declared that the demand for the recall
of those who had been accomplices in the violation of
municipal and international laws should not be taken
as a cause of offense by Great Britain.
Monsieur de Sartiges, the French Minister, under-
took to mediate between Mr. Crampton and Secretary
Marcy. Calling at the Department of State, he repre-
sented that the continuance of peaceful relations be-
tween England and the United States was the earnest
wish of his master, the Emperor, who, after his acces-
sion to the throne of France, had personally, and
through his representatives, evinced on every possible
occasion a friendship to the Union. Mr. Marcy ex-
pressed satisfaction at the assurance given, and re-
marked that it did not correspond with other official
statements which the United States had received from
parties of reputable standing in their own country.
The Minister promptly interposed and denied in the
firmest manner the truth of any report adverse to the
one which he had just made. The scene at this mo-
ment, according to representation, must have been one
of interest, for Mr. Marcy, rising from his seat, ex-
cused his absence for a moment. He returned in a
short time from an adjoining room with an original
despatch in his hand, addressed to the Secretary of
476
Perley^s Reminiscences.
War, Mr. Davis, which he opened, and by permission
of M. Sartiges, commenced reading extracts.
" Now," said Mr. Marcy, closing the document,
a what I have just read to you is from a report of an
army commission which was sent out by this Govern-
ment for the benefit of science, and am I to understand
from the free assurance that you have given, that his
Majesty, the Emperor, was ignorant of the language
used by his War
Secretary to the
officers of this
mission,to whom
he not only de-
clined extending
the courtesies so-
licited, but added
to the refusal
SECRETARY JEFF. DAVIS.
an expression
hoping ' that
when they met
it • might be at
the cannon's
mouth '?" Mr.
Marcy contin-
ued: "This lan-
guage is further
corroborated by a despatch to this department from our
Minister at Paris."
De Sartiges took a hurried leave, but sought revenge
by making himself generally disagreeable. He had a
row with Mr. Barney, a venerable ex-member of the
House and a gentleman of the old school. At evening
parties before leaving he would enter the drawing-room
where ladies and gentlemen were assembled, with his
a Out of Thine Own Mouth.'1'' 477
hat on and a cigar in his mouth, which he would light
by the chandelier. He also persisted in firing at cats
and rats from the back windows of his house, thus en-
dangering the lives of persons in the adjacent back
yards.
Mr. Crampton was recalled and received a diplomatic
promotion, going to St. Petersburg as Sir John Cramp-
ton. While there, in 1861, he married a young daugh-
ter of Balfe, who afterward procured a divorce, after a
curious suit at law, tried before " a jury of matrons."
England was forced to admit that Mr. Crampton's
conduct was " notoriously at war with the rights of
neutrality and national honor." This was not alto-
gether pleasant to some of the old Nestors of the Sen-
ate, who wanted once more to sound the war tocsin.
General Cass, who had had a bad fall on the outside
steps of the Department of the Interior, was u eager for
the fray ;" the valiant Clayton, of Delaware, saw an
opportunity to wipe out the stigma cast upon his treaty ;
and although the patriarchal Butler (owner of men-
servants and maid-servants, flocks and herds) displayed
the lily flag of peace in the Senatorial debate, it was
as eccentric as were his wierd-like white locks. Lord
Clarendon had then his hands full, but his successors
took their revenge in 1862, when attempts were made
to obtain recruits in Ireland for the Union Army. Mr.
Cushing's elaborate arguments against enlistments for
a foreign power were copied and sent back to the De-
partment of State at Washington.
The diplomatic representatives of Queen and Czar,
Emperor and Kaiser, were greatly troubled during the
Crimean and other European wars, and it would not
answer for them to be seen in friendly relations with
•each other. These foreign diplomats delude themselves
478
Perley^s Reminiscences.
with, the belief that they play an important political
part at Washington. So they do in the opinion of the
marriageable damsels, who are flattered with their flir-
tations, and in the estimation of snobbish sojourners,
who glory in writing home that they have shaken
hands with a lord, had a baron
to dine with them, or loaned an
attache a hundred dollars. But,
in reality, they are the veriest
supernumeraries in the political
drama now being performed on
the Washington stage. Should
any difficulty arise with the for-
eign powers they represent, spe-
cial Ministers would be appointed
to arrange it, and meanwhile the
Corps Diplomatique " give tone
to society," and is a potent
power — in its own estimation.
The various legations all ex-
hibit their national characteris-
tics. The British attaches rep-
resent the Belgravian of the
London magazines ; their hair
parted just a line off the exact
centre, their soft eyes only one
degree firmer than those of their
sisters', while their beautiful,
long side-whiskers are wonderful to behold. The
Spanish gentlemen one recognizes by their close-
shorn black heads and smooth faces, all courtesy, in-
evitable pride and secretiveness, eyes that, like those
of their women, betray a hundred intrigues, because
they seek to conceal so much. The exquisite polite-
ONE OF THE LEGATION.
Courtesy to the Press. 479
ness of the South Americans make you wonder if you
really can be dust and ashes after this perfect deference,
and their manners are marked by more vivacity than
those of the Spanish people. The Russian diplomats
have generally been on the most friendly terms with
Congressmen and citizens generally, while the Prus-
sians and the Frenchmen have had several little diffi-
culties with the Department of State and with the
residents of Washington.
Although Mr. Marcy was unwilling to cater for the
favor of the press to the extent which characterized
the conduct of many other public men, he generally
had a good word for the reporters and correspondents
whom he met. " Well, Mr. ," he would say, as he
walked up the steps of his office in the morning, to
some member of the press, who affected or had a great
acquaintance with the secrets of State — " Well, what is
the news in the State Department ? You know I have
always to go to the newspaper men to find out what is
going on here." At another time he would suggest a
paragraph which, he would quizzically intimate, might
produce an alarm in political circles, improvising, for
example, at a party of Senator Seward's, some story
in -the ordinary letter-writer style about Seward and
Marcy being seen talking together, and ending with
ominous speculations as to an approaching coalition,
etc., in doing which he would happily hit off the
writers for the press.
Mr. Gushing was more accommodating. He would
converse freely with those correspondents in whom he
had confidence, and permit them to copy his opinions
in advance of their delivery upon their pledges that
they should not be printed before they were officially
made public. He wrote a great many editorials, some-
480 Perley*s Reminiscences.
what ponderous and verbose, for the Washington
Union, and the elaborate statements on executive mat-
ters made by correspondents who enjoyed his favor
were often dictated by him.
Mr. Buchanan, removed from the intrigues of home
politics, kept up an active correspondence with his
friends. " I expected," he wrote to Mr. Henry A.
Wise, " ere this to have heard from you. You ought
to remember that I am now a stranger in a strange
land, and that the letters of so valued a friend as your-
self would be to me a source of peculiar pleasure. I
never had any heart for this mission, and I know that
I shall never enjoy it. Still,- 1 am an optimist in my
philosophy, and shall endeavor to make my sojourn
here as useful to my country and as agreeable to
myself as possible.
" I have been in London," Mr. Buchanan went on to
say, u long enough to form an opinion that the English
people generally are not friendly to the United States.
They look upon us with jealous eyes, and the public
journals generally, and especially the Leviathan Times,
speak of us in terms of hostility. The Times is par-
ticularly malignant, and as it notoriously desires to be
the echo of public opinion, its language is the more
significant. From all I can learn, almost every per-
son denounces what they are pleased to call the crime
of American slavery, and ridicules the idea that we
can be considered a free people whilst it shall exist.
They know nothing of the nature and character of
slavery in the United States, and have no desire to
learn. Should any public opportunity offer, I am fully
prepared to say my say upon this subject, as I have
already done privately in high quarters."
The first hotel in the District of Columbia was
481
Suter's Tavern, a long, low wooden building in
Georgetown, kept by John Suter. Next came the
Union Hotel there, kept by Crawford. The National
Hotel in Washington was for some years under the
management of Mr. Gadsby, who had previously been
SUTER'S TAVERN (1791.)
a noted landlord in Alexandria, and what was after-
ward the Metropolitan Hotel was the Indian Queen,
kept by the Browns, father and sons. Another hotel
was built nearer the White House by Colonel John
Tayloe, and was inherited by his son, Mr. J3. Ogle
31
482
Perley^s Reminiscences.
Tayloe. It was not, however, pecuniarily successful,
as it was thought to be too far up-town. Mrs. Tayloe,
who was born at the North, used to visit her child-
hood's home every summer, and in traveling on one of
those floating palaces, the day-boats on the Hudson
River, she was struck with the business energy and
desire to please' everybody manifested by the steward.
On her return Colonel Tayloe mentioned the want of
success which had attended his hotel, and she remarked
that if he could get Mr. Willard, the steward of the
THE EBBITT HOUSE.
Albany steamer, as its landlord, there would be no fear
as to its success. Mr. Tayloe wrote to Mr. Willard, a
native of Westminster, Vermont, who came to Wash-
ington, and was soon, in connection with his brother, B.
D. Willard, in charge of Mr. Tayloe's hotel, then
called the City Hotel. The Willards gave to this es-
tablishment the same attention which had character-
ized their labors on board of the steamboat. They met
their guests as they alighted from the stages in which
they came to Washington. They stood at the head of
Hotel Development.
483
their dinner-tables, wearing white linen aprons, and
carved the joints of meat, the turkeys, and the game.
They were ever ready to courteously answer questions,
and to do all in their power to make a sojourn at the
City Hotel homelike and agreeable.
Success crowned these efforts to please the public,
and the City Hotel soon took the first rank among the
caravanserais of the national metropolis. Mr. K. D.
Willard retired, and Mr. Henry A. Willard took into
partnership with him Mr. Joseph C. Willard, while
WILLARD'S HOTEL.
another brother, Mr. Caleb C. Willard, became the land-
lord of the popular Bbbitt House. In time it was de-
termined to rebuild the hotel, which was done under
the superintendence of Mr. Henry Willard, who
was designed by nature for an architect. When the
house was completed it was decided that it should be
called thenceforth Willard's Hotel, and about one hun-
dred gentlemen were invited to a banquet given at its
opening. After the cloth was removed, the health of
the Messrs. Willard was proposed as the first toast, and
484 Perley*s Reminiscences.
then Mr. Edward Everett was requested to make a
reply. He spoke with his accustomed ease, saying
that there are occasions when deeds speak louder than
words, and this was one of them. Instead of Mr. Wil-
lard returning thanks to the company present, it was
the company that was under obligations to him. In
fact, he thought that in paying their respects to Air.
Willard, they were but doing a duty, though certainly
a duty most easily performed. ' There are few duties
in life," said Mr. Everett, " that require less nerve than
to come together and eat a good dinner. There is very
little self-denial in that. Indeed, self-denial is not the
principle which generally carries us to a hotel, although
it sometimes happens that we have to practice it while
there." Mr. Everett went on to say that under the
roof which sheltered them he had passed a winter with
John Quincy Adams, Chief Justice Marshall, Judge
Story, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Clay, and Mr. Webster.
These were all gone, but with them he could name
another then living, and not unworthy to be associated
with them, Washington Irving. " Think of men like
these gathered together at the same time around the
festive board under this roof! That was, indeed, the
feast of reason, not merely the flash of merriment,
which set the table in a roar, but that gushing out of
convivial eloquence ; that cheerful interchange of
friendly feeling in which the politician and the parti-
san are forgotten. Yes, gentlemen," Mr. Everett went
on to say, u there were giants in those days ; giants in
intellect, but in character and spirit they were gentle-
men, and in their familiar intercourse with each other
they had all the tenderness of brethren.'
The new hall of the House of Representatives
was finished about this time. It was throughout
486 Per ley's Reminiscences.
gayly decorated, and its ceiling glittered with gilding,
but it was walled in from all direct communication
with fresh air and sunlight. Captain Meigs, of the
Engineer Corps, who had been intrusted by Secretary
Davis with the erection of the wings, had added to the
architect's plans an encircling row of committee-rooms
and clerical offices. Instead of ventilating the hall by
windows, a system was adopted patterned after that
tried in the English House of Commons, of pumping
in air heated in the winter and cooled in the summer,
and Captain Meigs had thermometers made, each one
bearing his name and rank, in which the mercury
could only ascend to ninety degrees and only fall to
twenty-four degrees above zero. He thought that by
his system of artificial ventilation it would never be
hotter or colder than their limits ; but he was wofully
mistaken, and immense sums have since been expended
in endeavoring to remedy the deficient ventilation.
The acoustic properties of the new hall were superior
to those of the classic and grand old hall, but with that
exception, the gaudily embellished new hall was less
convenient, not so well lighted and ventilated, and far
inferior in dignified appearance to the old one.
ABBOTT LAWRENCE was born at Groton, Massachusetts, December i6th. 1792 ; was a Representa-
tive iu Congress from Massachusetts, 1835-1837, and 1839-1840 ; was Minister to Great Britain, 1849.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE NORTHERN CHAMPIONS.
FESSENDEN, OF MAINE — THE STIRLING CLAIM — SOCIAL FESTIVITIES —
MARRIAGE OF JUDGE DOUGLAS — CONGRESSIONAL SCENES — SECRETARY
OF WAR DAVIS— ART AND LITERATURE— GEORGE W. CHILDS— J. R.
BARTLETT.
THE entrance of William Pitt Fessenden into
the Senate Chamber was graphically sketched
years afterward by Charles Sunnier. " He
came," said the Senator from Massachusetts, " in the
midst of that terrible debate on the Kansas and Ne-
braska bill, by which the country was convulsed to its
centre, and his arrival had the effect of a reinforcement
on a field of battle. Those who stood for freedom then
were few in numbers — not more than fourteen — while
thirty-seven Senators in solid column voted to break
the faith originally plighted to freedom, and to over-
turn a time-honored landmark, opening that vast
Mesopotamian region to the curse of slavery. Those
anxious days are with difficulty comprehended by a
Senate where freedom rules. One more in our small
number was a sensible addition. We were no longer
fourteen, but fifteen. His reputation at the bar, and
his fame in . the other House, gave assurance which
was promptly sustained. He did not wait, but at once
entered into the debate with all those resources which
afterward became so famous. The scene that ensued
exhibited his readiness and courage. While saying
487
488
Perley^s Reminiscences.
that the people of the North were fatigued with the
threat of disunion, that they considered it as ' mere
noise and nothing else,' he was interrupted by Mr.
Butler, of South Carolina, always ready to speak for
slavery, exclaiming, ' If such sentiments as yours pre-
vail I want a dissolution right away ' — a characteristic
intrusion doubly out of order. To which the new-
comer rejoined, 'Do not delay it on my account; do
not delay it on account
of anybody at the
North.' The effect was
electric ; but this inci-
dent was not alone.
Douglas, Cass, and
Butler interrupted on-
ly to be worsted by
one who had just rid-
den into the lists. The
feelings on the other
side were expressed by
the Senator from South
Carolina, who, after
one of the flashes of
debate which he had
provoked, exclaimed :
'Very well, go on ; I have no hope of you!' All
this will be found in the Globe precisely as I give it,
but the Globe could not picture the exciting scene —
the Senator from Maine, erect, firm, immovable as a jut-
ting promontory, against which the waves of ocean
tossed and broke in dissolving spray. There he stood.
Not a Senator, loving freedom, who did not feel on that
day that a champion had come."
A most extraordinary claim was presented at Wash-
WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN.
An Immense Claim. 489
ington during the Pierce Administration by Mr.
Francis B. Hayes, a respectable attorney, who had
Reverdy Johnson as his legal adviser. It was from the
heirs of Sir William Alexander, the Earl of Stirling,
who was regarded as the most brilliant man in the
courts of James VI. and of Charles I. He received from
these monarchs grants of an immense domain in North
America, including, in addition to Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Prince Edward's Island, and Canada, a con-
siderable portion of Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin,
together with a strip of land reaching from the head-
waters of Lake Superior to the Gulf of California, and
" the lands and bounds adjacent to the said Gulf on
the west and south, whether they be found a part of
the continent or mainland, or an island," as it was
thought they were, which was commonly called and
distinguished by the name of California.
The immensity of this land-claim was sufficient to
defeat it, and it was asserted that the claimant, whose
father had established his title to the Earldom of Stir-
ling in the Scotch courts, was a pretender, and that the
most important papers substantiating the claim were
forgeries. Just then there appeared in BlackwoocPs
Magazine an elaborate article of more than sixty pages,
showing up the worthlessness of the claim, and the
North American Review published a reply, in which it
said: " If the present claimant is indeed (as we believe
him to be) the legal representative of the first Earl,
there can be no doubt that he is, morally speaking, en-
titled to the principal and interest of the debt secured
by royal bond to his ancestor, and that it would not be
unworthy the magnanimity of both the British Govern-
ment and our own to tender him some honorable con-
sideration for the entire loss to his family, through the
49° Perley^s Reminiscences.
fortunes of war, of revenue and benefit from the bona
fide and, for the times, immense outlay of his ancestor
in the colonization of the Western wilderness." No
capitalists were found, however, who were willing to
advance the funds for the prosecution of the claim, and
Lord Stirling finally accepted a department clerkship,
which he creditably filled.
The last winter of President Pierce's Administration
was a very gay one at Washington. In addition to the
official and public entertainments at the White House,
Secretaries McClelland and Davis, and several of the
foreign Ministers, gave elegant evening parties, the
Southern element predominating in them. Senator
Seward and Speaker Banks also gave evening recep-
tions, and the leading Republicans generally congre-
gated at the pleasant evening tea-parties at the resi-
dence of Mr. Bailey, the editor of the Era, where Miss
Dodge, afterward known in literature as " Gail Ham-
ilton," enlivened the cozy parlors with her sparkling
conversation.
The wedding of Judge Douglas was a social event.
His first wife had been Miss Martin, a North Carolina,
lady, who was the mother of his two young sons, who
inherited from her a plantation which had belonged to
her father in Lawrence County, Mississippi, on which
there were upward of a hundred slaves. The " Little
Giant's " second wife was Miss Ada Cutts, a Washing-
ton belle, the daughter of Richard Cutts, who was for
twelve years a Representative from Maine when it was
a district of Massachusetts, and afterward Comptroller
of the Treasury. Miss Cutts was tall, very beautiful,
and well qualified by education and deportment to ad-
vance her husband's political interests. She was a
devout Roman Catholic, and they were married in a
.492 Perley's Reminiscences.
Roman Catholic Church, where the bridegroom did not
seem at home. She had no children, and after having
been for some years a widow, she was married a second
time to Colonel Williams, of the Adjutant General's
Department of the Army.
The last session under the Pierce Administration
was a stormy one. Vice-President Breckinridge deliv-
ered an eloquent address when the Senate removed into
its new chamber, which was followed by angry debates
•on the tariff, the Pacific Railroad, the fish bounties,
the admission of Minnesota, and the submarine tele-
graph to England.
In the House Mr. Banks won laurels as Speaker,
displaying a thorough acquaintance with the intrica-
cies of parliamentary rules and prompt action in those
cases when excited Representatives sought to set pre-
cedence at defiance. There was an investigation into a
charge of bribery and corruption, made by Mr. Simon-
ton, the correspondent of the New York Times, and he
was kept in the . custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms for
not giving the facts upon which he had based his
•charges. It was evident to all, however, that Mr.
Simonton was correct when he stated that " a corrupt
organization of Congressmen and certain lobby-agents
•existed."
With the exception of a few favored ones, the officers
•of the army were glad when the termination of the
term of service of Colonel Jefferson Davis as Secretary
of War approached. He had acted as though he was
Commander-in-Chief, treating the heads of bureaus as
if they were his orderlies, and directing everything,
from a review down to the purchase of shoe-blacking.
He also changed the patterns of uniforms, arms, and
equipments several times, and it was after one of these
New Regimentals. 493.
changes that he received a communication from Lieu-
tenant Derby, well known in literary circles as John.
Phoenix, suggesting that each private have a stout iron
hook projecting from a round plate, to be strongly
sewed on the rear of his trousers. Illustrations showed
the uses to which this hook could be put. In one, a
soldier was shown on the march, carrying his effects
suspended from this hook ; in another, a row of men,
were hung by their hooks on a fence, fast asleep ; in a,
third, a company was shown advancing in line of battle,
each man having a rope attached to his hook, the other
end of which was held by an officer in the rear, who
could restrain him if he advanced too rapidly, or haul
him back if he wa*s wounded. When Secretary Davis
received this he was in a towering rage, and he an-
nounced that day at a Cabinet meeting that he intended
to have Lieutenant Derby tried before a court-martial
" organized to convict " and summarily dismissed. But
the other Secretaries, who enjoyed the joke, convinced
him that if the affair became public he would be
laughed at, and he abandoned the prosecution of the
daring artist-author.
Mr. Healy came to Washington in the last winter of
the Pierce Administration, and painted several capital
portraits. Mr. Ames, of Boston, who exhibited a life-
like portrait of Daniel Webster, and Mr. Powell also-
set up their easels, to execute orders. Captain East-
man, of the army, was at work on the sketches for the
illustrations of Schoolcraft's great work on the Indians,
and Mr. Charles Lanman, the author-artist, added to
his already well-filled portfolios of landscapes. Mr.
George West, known to fame as a painter of Chinese
life, was engaged by Captain Meigs to paint prominent
naval events in spaces in the elaborate frescoing on the.-
IN THE HEAT OF ACTION.
DERBY'S PLATE AND HOOK ATTACHMENT.
A Virginia Barbecue. 495
walls of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs, but
after he had completed two he refused to submit to the
military rule of Meigs, and stopped work. What he
had done was then painted out. An Italian fresco-
painter, Mr. Brimidi, was more obedient to orders and
willing to answer the roll-calls, so he was permitted to
cover the interior walls of the new Capitol with his
work — allegorical, historical, diabolical, and mytho-
logical.
President Pierce was the most popular man person-
ally that ever occupied the Presidential chair. When,
in 1855, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad was com-
pleted to Culpepper Court-House, Virginia, John S.
Barbour, president of the road, invited a number of
gentlemen to inspect it and partake of a barbecue.
President Pierce, Mr. Bodisco, the Russian Minister,
and other distinguished officials were of the invited
guests. The party went to Alexandria by steamer,
and on landing there found a train awaiting them, with
a baggage-car fitted up as a lunch room. The Presi-
dent was in excellent spirits, and when the excursion-
ists reached the place where the barbecue was held, he
enjoyed a succession of anecdotes told by the best story
tellers of the party. The feast of barbecued meats
was afterward enjoyed, and early in the afternoon the
party again took the cars to return. On the return trip
a gentleman with an enormous beard, having imbibed
very freely, leaned his head on the back of the seat and
went to sleep. A blind boy got in at one of the sta-
tions, and moving along the aisle of the car, his hand
came in contact with the man's beard, which he mis-
took for a lap-dog, and began to pat, saying, " Pretty
puppy, pretty puppy." This attention disturbed the
sleeper, who gave a loud snort, when the boy jumped
496 Perley^s Reminiscences.
back, and said, " You. wouldn't bite a blind boy, would!
you ?" President Pierce was much amused with this
occurrence, and often spoke of it when he met those
who had witnessed it with him.
Mr. George W. Childs, then a courteous and genial
book publisher in Philadelphia, endeavored to obtain
from Congress an order for an edition of Dr. Kane's
work on the Arctic regions. The House passed the
requisite resolution, but the Senate refused to concur,
although it had ordered the publication of several ex-
pensive accounts of explorations at the far West. The
Congressional imprimatur was also refused to the re-
port of the Hon. J. R. Bartlett, who was the civilian
member of the Joint Commission which had established
the new boundary between the United States and Mex-
ico. He had refused to bow down and worship the
" brass coats and blue buttons " of his military asso-
ciates, so his valuable labors were ignored, while an
enormous sum was expended in illustrating and pub-
lishing the work of Major Emory, the ranking army
officer on the Commission.
NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS was born at Waltham, Massachusetts, January 3oth, 1816; wasi.
Representative in Congress, December sth, 1853, to December 4th, 1857, when he resigned, having-
served as Speaker in the Thirty-fourth Congress; was Governor of Massachusetts, January, 1858,
to January, 1861 ; served throughout the war as major-general of volunteers ; was a Representative
in Congress. December 4th, 1865, to March 3d, 1873, and again December 6th, 1875, to March 3dr
1877; was appointed United States Marshal for the district of Massachusetts.
CHAPTER XL.
EXCITING PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
•0EMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR THE PRESIDENCY— JAMES BUCHANAN —
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS— DELEGATES TO THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION
— THE STRUGGLE — THE DISORGANIZED DEMOCRACY UNITED— OPPOSI-
TION NOMINATIONS— THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION —ELECTION OP
MR. BUCHANAN — COUNTING THE VOTES.
AS the time for the Presidential election of 1856
approached, the Democrats, thoroughly alarmed
by the situation, determined to make a last
struggle for Southern s ivpremacy, and Washington was
agitated by the friends of the prominent candidates for
the Democratic nomination for months before the
National Convention at Cincinnati.
President Pierce earnestly desired a renomination,
and had distributed " executive patronage " over the
country in a way which he hoped would secure him a
majority of the delegates. He had done all in his
power to promote the interests of the South, but suc-
cess had not crowned his efforts, and he was ungrate-
fully dropped, as Daniel Webster had been before him.
James Buchanan, then in the sixty-fifth year of
his age, had started in public life as a Federalist, and
in 1819 had united in a call for a public meeting to
protest against the admission of Missouri as a slave
State. But he had become converted to pro-slavery
Democracy, and although he had been defeated three
times in Democratic Conventions as a candidate for the
32 497
498 Perley^s Reminiscences.
Presidential nomination, he was regarded as the most
" available " candidate by those who had been in past
years identified with the Whigs. His political views
are summed up in the following extract from one of
his speeches in Congress : " If I know myself, I am a
politician neither of the West nor the Hast, of the
North nor of the -South. I therefore shall forever
avoid any expressions the direct tendency of which
must be to create sectional jealousies, and at length
disunion — that worst of all political calamities." That
he endeavored in his future career to act in accord-
ance with this uncertain policy no candid mind can
doubt.
Stephen A. Douglas' doctrine of " squatter sover-
eignty " was repudiated by the Southern Democrats
with but few exceptions. Bold, dashing, and energetic
in all that he undertook, with almost superhuman
powers of physical endurance, he even forced the ad-
miration of men who did not agree with his opinions.
No man ever lived in this country who could go before
the masses " on the stump," and produce such a marked
effect, and his personal magnetism won him many
friends. One day the " Little Giant," going up to Bev-
erly Tucker, a prominent Virginia politician, threw
his arm upon his shoulder, and said, in his impulsive
way, "Bev., old boy, I love you." "Douglas," says-
Tucker, "will you always love me.?" "Yes," says
Douglas, " I will." " But," persisted Tucker, " will
you love me when you get to be President ?" "If I
don't, may I be blanked !" says Douglas. " What do
you want me to do for you ?" " Well," says Tucker,
" when you get to be President, all I want you to do
for me is to pick some public place, and put your arm
around my neck, just as you are doing now, and call
Leading Democrats.
499
me Bev.!" Douglas was much amused, and used to
relate the circumstance with great glee.
General Cass had a few faithful friends, and Henry
A. Wise, of Virginia, who was a blatant Buchanan
man, was not without hope that he himself might re-
ceive the nomination.
Many of the delegates to the Cincinnati Convention
passed some time in Washington City. Massachusetts
sent Charles Gordon
Greene, the veteran
editor of the Boston
Post; Benjamin F.
Butler, then known as
a smart Lowell lawyer,
an^i the old anti-Ma-
son, Ben. F. Hallet,
then United States Dis-
trict Attorney. Among
the Kentuckians were
the gallant John C.
Breckinridge,the pug-
nacious Charles A.
Wickliffe, J. W. Ste-
venson, and T. C.
McCreery, afterward
Governors and Senators, and the courteous William C.
Preston, afterward Minister to Spain. From Loui-
siana were Senators Slidell and Benjamin, prominently
connected with the Rebellion a few years later, and
Pierre Soule. Florida was to be represented by Senator
Yulee, of Israelitish extraction, who in early life spelled
his name L-e-v-i. Then there were Vallandigham, of
Ohio ; Captain Isaiah Rynders, of New York ; James
S. Green, of Missouri ; James A. Bayard, of Delaware,
JAMES A. BAYARD
500 Perley^s Reminiscences.
and other party magnates, who all expressed their
desire to sink all personal grievances to secure victory.
The Democrats met in Convention at Cincinnati,
where the friends of each candidate had their headquar-
ters, that of Mr. Douglas being graced by Dan Sickles,
Tom Hyer, Isaiah Rynders, and other New York poli-
ticians, while at a private house leased by Mr. S. M.
Barlow, the claims of Buchanan were urged by Sena-
tors Bayard, Benjamin, Bright, and Slidell. General
Pierce had few friends beyond the holders of Federal
offices, and General Cass received a cold support from
a half-dozen old friends.
The first two days were occupied in settling the
claims of contestants to seats. The anti-Benton delegates
from Missouri were admitted, and the New York
wrangle was finally settled by adopting the minority
report of the Committee on Credentials, which admit-
ted both the " Hards " and the " Softs," giving each
half a vote. On the first ballot, Buchanan had one
hundred and thirty-five votes, Pierce one hundred and
twenty-three, Douglas thirty-three, and Cass five. The
balloting was continued during four days, when, on the
sixteenth ballot (the name of Pierce having been with-
drawn), Buchanan received one hundred and sixty-
eight votes, Douglas one hundred and twenty-one, and
Cass four and a half. Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, then
withdrew the name of Mr. Douglas, and Mr. Buchanan
was unanimously nominated. The Convention then
balloted for a candidate for Vice-President, and on the
second ballot John C. Breckinridge was nominated.
The Native Americans and the Republicans flattered
themselves that the Democratic party had been reduced
to a mere association of men, whose only aim was the
spoils of victory. Indeed, Mr. Lewis D. Campbell, of
"Non Comeatibus}'1 501
Ohio, asserted in a public speech that "were President
Pierce to send out all his force of marshals and deputy
marshals to find such a party, each one provided with a
national search-warrant, they would fail to discover the
fugitive ! It, too, has departed ! His marshals would
have to make returns upon their writs similar to that
of the Kentucky constable. A Kentucky fight once oc-
curred at a tavern on ' Bar Grass !' One of the com-
batants broke a whisky bottle over the head of his an-
tagonist. The result was a State's warrant. The de-
fendant fled through a corn-field, over the creek, into a
swamp, and there climbed a stump. Seating himself
in the fork, he drew his ' bowie,' and as the constable
approached in pursuit, he addressed him :
" ' Now, Mr. Constable, you want to take me, and I
give you fair warning that if you attempt to climb this
stump, by the Eternal ! I'll take you !' The constable,
who had been about the court-house enough to learn
some of the technical terms used in returning writs,
went back to the 'Squire's office, and indorsed upon the
warrant : ' Non est inventus ! through fieldibus, across
creekum, in swampum, up stumpum, non comeatibus !'
So it is with the old Jackson Democratic party — ' non
comeatibus !' '
The Democratic party, however, was in a better con-
dition than its opponents imagined. President Pierce
entered heartily into the campaign, Jefferson Davis
and Stephen A. Douglas worked shoulder to shoulder,
and Mr. Buchanan proved to be a model candidate.
When his old friend, Mr. Nahum Capen, of Boston,
sent to him a campaign life for his indorsement he
declined, saying: "After reflection and consultation,
I stated in my letter of acceptance substantially that I
would make no issues beyond the platform, and have,
502 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
therefore, avoided giving my sanction to any publication
containing opinions with which I might be identi-
fied, and prove unsatisfactory to some portions of the
Union. I must continue to stand on this ground."
The Governors of the Southern States were satisfied
with the nomination of Mr. Buchanan, although the
leading secessionists avowed their intention to avail
themselves of the opportunity for organizing a rebellion
which they hoped would prove a revolution. Officers
of the army and navy, born at the South, or who had
married Southern wives, were appealed to to stand by
the States to which they first owed allegiance, and ac-
cessions to those willing to desert the Union when their
States called for their services were announced. Promi-
nent among those officers who intimated their intention
to serve Virginia rather than the Federal Government
was Colonel Robert E. Lee. A Virginian by birth, he
had married the only child of George Washington
Parke Custis, and when not on duty away from Wash-
ington he resided at " Arlington." On Sundays he
worshiped in Christ Church, at Alexandria, occupying
the family pew in which George Washington used to
sit.
The National American Convention had met at
Philadelphia on the i9th of February, and (after an
exciting discussion of the slavery question, followed
by the withdrawal of the Abolitionists) nominated Fill-
more and Donelson. This ticket was adopted at an
eminently respectable convention of the Whig leaders,
then without followers, held at Baltimore on the iyth of
September.
Some of Mr. Seward's friends desired to have him
nominated by the Republicans at their National Con-
vention, to be held at Philadelphia on the lyth of June,
Washington^ Church.
5°3
"but Thurlow Weed saw that he could not receive as
many votes as were cast for Scott in 1852, and advo-
cated the nomination of John C. Fremont, the " Path-
CHRIST CHURCH AT ALEXANDRIA, AND WASHINGTON'S PEW.
finder," whose young and pretty daughter might be
seen every pleasant afternoon riding on horseback on
Pennsylvania Avenue with her old grandfather, Colo-
nel Thomas H. Benton. " Old Blair, of the Globe}*
5°4
Percy's Reminiscences.
and his two sons, Preston King, of New York, John
Van Bureii, and David Wilrnot, with other distin-
guished and disgruntled Democrats, with several clever
young journalists, created a great enthusiasm for Colo-
nel Fremont. Mr. Bailey, of the Washington Era,
with a few old Whigs, advocated the nomination of
Judge McLean, while Burlingame, at the head of the
u Young America," or Know Nothing branch of the
party, endeavored to
get up enthusiasm for
Mr. Speaker Banks,
"the bobbin-boy."
When the Republi-
can Convention met
there were self-styled
delegates from Dela-
ware,Kentucky, Mary-
land, and Virginia, but
it was, in fact, a con-
vention of nearly a
thousand delegates
from the free States.
An informal ballot
showed that Fremont
had a large majority
and he was unanimously nominated. Mr. Dayton, of
New Jersey, was nominated as Vice-President, defeating
Nathaniel P. Banks, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Sum-
ner, and David Wilmot.
The Republicans endeavored to revive the excite-
ments of the Log Cabin campaign, and a considerable
zeal was manifested by the Americans, the Democrats,
and the Whigs, but Mr. Buchanan received the elec-
toral votes of five large free States, and of every South-
ISAAC TOUCEY
"Buck and Breck" Chosen. 505
ern State with the exception of Maryland, which gave
its vote for Mr. Fillmore. Colonel Fremont received
the vote of every Northern State with the exception of
California, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, and Pennsyl-
vania. Mr. Buchanan was astonished at the large
vote which he had received, and he regarded this as a
proof that what he called " Abolition fanaticism " had
at last been checked.
The electoral votes for President and Vice-President
were counted, in accordance with the established cus-
tom, in the Hall of the House of Representatives.
The Senators went there in procession, advanced up
the middle aisle, and took seats provided for them in
the area in front of the Speaker's chair, the Represen-
tatives receiving them " standing and in silence." Mr.
Speaker Banks handed, his " gavel " to Judge Mason,
President of the Senate pro tempore, and the venerable
old fogies took arm-chairs in the area before the table.
Senator Bigler, of Pennsylvania, with Messrs. Jones,
of Tennessee, and Howard, of Ohio, duly appointed
tellers, then took possession of the clerk's desk, and
the proceedings commenced. State by State, the Chair-
man took the packages, broke the seals, and handed
the documents to the tellers, by one of whom they
were read. Maine led off with " Fremont and Day-
ton," and for awhile it was all that way. But the
Pathfinder stuck in the sands of New Jersey, and then
" Old Buck " began to make a showing, varied by the
Maryland vote for Millard Fillmore. Everything went
along " beautiful," and the vote had been announced by
the tellers, when objection was made to the vote of Wis-
consin, which was one day late, owing to a snow storm.
A regular scene of confusion ensued, in which their
high mightinesses, the Senators, became intensely
506 Perley^s Reminiscences.
aroused. The great Michigander growled like an angry
bear, and old Judge Butler became terribly excited, his
long hair standing out in every direction, like that of a
doll charged with electric fluid. At last he led the van,
and the Senators withdrew in great dudgeon, to cool off
as they passed through the Rotunda. In due time
the}'- returned, however, and after a little talk the vote
was officially announced. The Senate then retired, the
House adjourned, and the country turned its expectant
eyes toward the coming Administration.
WINFIELD SCOTT was born at Petersburg, Virginia, June i^th, 1786; received a liberal educa-
tion; was admitted to the bar and practiced a few years; entered the army in 1808 as a captain
of light artillery ; commanded on the northern frontier and won the battle of Chippewa and Lundy 'a
Lane in 1814; defeated Black Hawk in 1812 ; commanded in the Mexican campaign, which resulted
in the capture of the City of Mexico in September, 1847; was defeated as the Whig candidate for
President in 1852 ; was commissioned as Lieutenant-General in 1855, and died at New York, May
agth, 1866.
CHAPTER XLI.
MISS LANE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
PRESIDENT-ELECT BUCHANAN — MISS HARRIET LANE — THE NEW CABI-
NET AND THE MESSAGE— THE NEWSPAPER ORGANS— INAUGURATION
OP PRESIDENT BUCHANAN — THE INAUGURATION BALL — THE DRED
SCOTT DECISION — THE MINORITY DECISION.
AFTER the election of Mr. Buchanan, his home
at Lancaster, " Wheatland," was a political
Mecca, to which leading Democrats from all
sections made pilgrimages. Mr. Buchanan, who was
experienced in public affairs, appointed his nephew,
Mr. J. Buchanan Henry, a well-informed young gentle-
man, recently admitted to the Philadelphia bar, as his
private secretary, and made him indorse brief state-
ments of their contents on each of the numerous letters
of recommendation for office which he received.
A few weeks before his inauguration, Mr. Buchanan
visited Washington, that he might confer with his
leading political friends. He entertained a large party
of them at dinner at the National Hotel, after which
nearly all of those present suffered from the effects of
poison taken into their systems from an impure water
supply, and some of them never recovered.
Mr. Buchanan was accompanied, when he left his
home to be inaugurated, by Miss Harriet Lane, his
niece, a graceful blonde with auburn hair and violet
eyes, who had passed a season in London when her
uncle was the American Minister there, and who was
507
5o8
Perley's Reminiscences.
as discreet as she was handsome, amiable, and agree-
able. With her, to aid in keeping house in the
Executive Mansion, was " Miss Hetty " Parker, who
had for years presided over Mr. Buchanan's bach-
elor's-hall, and his private secretary, Mr. J. Buchanan
Henry.
On his arrival at Washington, Mr. Buchanan was
taken to a suite of rooms prepared for him at the
National Hotel, but he soon after went to the house
THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART.
of Mr. W. W. Corcoran, the generous founder of the
Corcoran Gallery of Art, where he remained until his
inauguration. On the morning after his arrival, the
National Intelligencer gave the following as the proba-
ble composition of his Cabinet : Secretary of State,
Lewis Cass, of Michigan ; Secretary of the Treasury,
Howell Cobb, of Georgia ; Secretary of War, John B.
Floyd, of Virginia ; Secretary of the Navy, Aaron V.
Brown, of Tennessee ; Secretary of the Interior, J.
Thompson, of Mississippi ; Postmaster-General, J.
Starting the Administration.
509
Glancy Jones, of Pennsylvania ; Attorney-General,
Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut. It was also said that
Mr. Jones had declined, and that the position of Post-
master-General had been tendered to W. C. Alexander,
of New Jersey. This programme, arranged by Mr.
Buchanan before he had left his home, was but slightly
changed. Mr. Toucey was made Secretary of the
Navy, Aaron V. Brown, Postmaster-General, and Jere
Black was brought in as Attorney-General. But these
PATENT OFFICE AND INTERIOR DEPARTMENT.
carefully made arrangements failed to beget confidence.
Republicans were defiant, as were men of the domi-
nant party, and everywhere were apprehensions.
The inaugural message had been written at Wheat-
land, where Mr. J. Buchanan Henry had copied Mr.
Buchanan's drafts and re-copied them with alterations
and amendments, until the document was satisfactory.
It met the approval of the selected Cabinet when read
to them at Washington, the only change being the in-
Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
sertion of a clause shadowing the forthcoming Dred
Scott decision by the Supreme Court as one that would
dispose of a vexed and troublesome topic by the high-
est authority.
It was also arranged that Mr. Buchanan's friend,
Mr. John Appleton, who had represented the Portland
district in Congress, and had served as Minister to Bo-
livia and as Secretary of Legation at London, should edit
the Washington Union, which was to be the " organ "
BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING BUILDING.
of the new Administration. Mr. Appleton's salary,
with the other expenses of the paper above its receipts,
were to be paid by Mr. Cornelius Wendell, as a consid-
eration for the printing and binding for the Executive
Departments.
Major Heiss, who had made sixty thousand dollars
on the public printing, and then lost forty thousand
dollars in publishing the New Orleans Delta, estab-
lished a paper called The States, which was to be the
organ of the filibusters and the secessionists. He was
The Gathering Guests. 511
aided by Major Harris, a son-in-law of General Arm-
strong, who had made his fortune while Senate Printer,
other parties doing the work for about half of what
was paid for it. Mr. Henri Watterson, who had been
born at Washington, while his father represented a
Tennessee district in the House, commenced his bril-
liant editorial career as a reporter on The States.
At midnight on the third of March, the fine band of
P. S. Gilmore, which had accompanied the Charles-
town City Guard to Washington, formed in front of
Mr. Corcoran's house, beneath the windows of the
chamber occupied by Mr. Buchanan, and played " Hail
to the Chief," followed by the " Star Spangled Ban-
ner " and " Hail Columbia." The city was filled that
night with strangers, many of whom could not find
sleeping-places. Every hotel was crammed, every
boarding-house was crowded, private houses were full,
and even the circus tent was turned into a dormitory
at fifty cents a head.
Congress was in session all night, and the Capitol
was crowded. Just prior to the final adjournment of
the House, the newspaper correspondents, who had re-
ceived many courtesies from Mr. Speaker Banks, united
in writing him a letter of thanks. In his reply he.
said : "The industry and early intelligence which
gave value to your labors are often the subject of com-
mendation, and to this I am happy to add that, so far
as I am able to j udge, you have been guided as much by
a desire to do justice to individuals as to promote the
public weal."
The sun rose in a fog and was greeted by a salute
from the Navy Yard and the Arsenal, while the rattling
notes of the " reveille " were heard on all sides, and
hundreds of large American flags, were displayed from
Per iey 's Reminiscences.
public and private buildings. The streets wrere filled
with soldiers, firemen, badge-bedecked politicians, and
delighted negroes. Well-mounted staff officers and
marshals galloped to and fro, directing 'military and
civic organizations to their positions in the procession.
f
GENERAL QUITMAN.
The departments were closed, and the clerks were
anxiously discussing the probability of a rotation in
office which would force them to seek other employ-
ment.
As noon approached, carriages conveyed the privi-
The Inaugural Procession. 513
leged few to the Capitol, where, at " high twelve," the
gallant and gifted John C. Breckinridge solemnly
swore to protect and defend the Constitution. He then
administered the same oath to Jefferson Davis and
other new Senators.
Meanwhile that gallant Mexican War veteran, Gen-
eral Quitman, who commanded the military, had been
formally received, and had given the word " March !"
Colonel W. W. Selden, the Chief Marshal, had at least
thirty gentlemen as aides, all finely mounted and
handsomely attired, with uniform sashes and saddle-
cloths, forming a gallant troop. At the head of the
•column was the Light Battery K, of the First Regular
Artillery, commanded by Major William H. French.
Next came a battalion of marines, headed by the full
Marine Band, in their showy scarlet uniforms. Twenty-
four companies of volunteer militia followed, promi-
nent among them the Albany Burgess Corps, with
Dodworth's Band ; the Charlestown City Guard, with
Gilmore's Band ; the Lancaster Fencibles ; the Willard
Guard, from Auburn, New York ; the Law Grays, and
a German Rifle Company, from Baltimore.
Following the escort, in an open carriage drawn by
two fine gray horses, sat President Pierce and Presi-
dent-elect Buchanan. Flowers were thrown into the
carriage as it passed along, and cheers drowned the
music of the bands. The carriage was followed by
political clubs from New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and Lancaster, each having its band and banners. The
Washington Democratic Association had a decorated
car, drawn by six horses, from which rose a liberty
pole seventy feet high, carrying a large American flag.
This and a full-rigged miniature ship-of-war were
gotten up at the Washington Navy Yard.
33
Per ley's Reminiscences.
On reaching the Capitol, Mr. Buchanan was escorted
to the Senate Chamber. Mr. Breckinridge had been
sworn in as Vice-President, and a procession was soon
formed with him at its head, which moved to the plat-
JAMES BUCHANAN.
form erected in the usual place over the steps of the
eastern portico. As he came out, dressed with his
habitual precision in a suit of black, and towering
above the surrounding throng, the thoughtful gravity
of his features hushed the impatient crowd. There
The Bachelor President. 515
was a second of intense quiet, then cheer after cheer
rent the air. Soon he was surrounded by the mag-
nates of the land, civil, military, and naval, with the
Diplomatic Corps and a number of elegantly dressed
ladies. Advancing to the front of the platform, he
read his inaugural address from manuscript in a clear,
distinct tone, and when he had concluded, reverentially
took the oath of office, which, as with several of his
predecessors, was administered by the venerable Chief
Justice Taney. The cheers of the multitude were
MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE WHITE HOUSE IN 1857.
echoed by a President's salute, fired by the Light
Artillery near by, and repeated at the Navy Yard and
at the Arsenal. The procession was then re-formed
and escorted the President to the White House, where
he held an impromptu reception.
As there was no hall in Washington large enough
to contain more than six hundred people, a temporary
annex to the City Hall was erected by the managers
of the Inauguration Ball. The interior was decorated
with the flags of all nations, and the ceiling was of
516 Per ley^s Reminiscences.
white cloth, studded with golden stars, which twinkled
as they were moved in unison with the measure of the
dancers below, and reflected the blaze of light from
large gas chandeliers.
Mr. Buchanan arrived about eleven o'clock, accom-
panied by Miss Lane, and was received by Major Ma-
gruder, who very discreetly spared him the infliction
of a speech. Miss Lane wore a white dress trimmed
with artificial flowers, similar to those which orna-
mented her hair, and clasping her throat was a neck-
lace of many strands of sea pearls. She was escorted
by Senator Jones and the venerable General Jessup, in
full uniform.
The most oeautifui among the many ladies present
was the wrife of Senator Douglas, who was dressed in
bridal white, with a cluster of orange-blossoms on her
classically formed head. Senators Cameron and Dixon,
with their wives, were the only Republican members of
the upper house present, but there was no lack of
those from sunnier climes, with their ladies, among
whom Mrs. Slidell, who was something of an oracle in
political circles, was conspicuous. Mrs. Senator Thomp-
son, of New Jersey, dressed in white, with silver orna-
ments, was much admired. The ladies of the Diplo-
matic Corps were elegantly attired, especially Madame
de Sartiges, the wife of the French Minister. Presi-
dent Buchanan and suite were first admitted, with the
Committee, to the supper-table. Dancing was kept up
until daylight, and although the consumption of
punch, wines, and liquors was great, there were no
signs of intoxication.
Two days after Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated
Chief Justice Taney, of the Supreme Court, gave a de-
cision in the Dred Scott case, in which he virtually de-
Dred Scott. 517
clared that " negroes have no rights which white men
are bound to respect. " Dred Scott had been a slave in
Missouri, belonging to Dr. Emerson, a surgeon in the
United States Army, who had taken him, in the per-
formance of his official duties, to Illinois, and thence
to Minnesota. Returning with him to Missouri, Dred
Scott was whipped, and claiming that he had secured
his freedom by a residence in a free State and a free
Territory, he brought suit for assault and battery.
Meanwhile Dr. Bmerson died, leaving to his widow
and to his only daughter a considerable slave property,
among them Dred Scott. Mrs. Emerson afterward
married Dr. Calvin C. Chaffee, who came into Con-
gress on the Know-Nothing wave and afterward be-
came a Republican. The suit brought by Dred Scott
was defended by the administrator of the Emerson
estate, on behalf and with the consent of the wife of
Dr. Chaffee and her daughter, who were the heirs-at-
law. The final decision of the Supreme Court that
Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States and
could not sue in the United States Court remanded
him and his family to the chattelhood of Mrs. Chaffee.
This decision was a great, victory for the South, as it
not only reduced all persons of African descent to a
level with inanimate property, but asserted that a
slave-holder could go to any part of the country, tak-
ing his slaves and preserving his ownership in them.
Mr. Justice B. R. Curtis, who had been appointed by
President Fillmore on the recommendation of Daniel
Webster, dissented. He furnished a copy of his dis-
senting opinion for publication in the newspapers, but
the majority opinion was not forthcoming, and the
clerk of the court said that the Chief Justice had for-
bidden its delivery. Shortly afterward, Judge Curtis,
518 Per iey 's Reminiscences.
having heard that extensive alterations had been made
in the majority opinion, sent from Boston to Washing-
ton, being himself then in Massachusetts, for a copy.
He was refused. A long and bitter correspondence
ensued between him and Judge Taney. He claimed
the right, which he undoubtedly possessed, to consult
the record for the further discharge of his official
duties. Judge Taney denied the right, and obtained
an order of court forbidding anybody to see the opin-
ion before its official publication in the Reports. The
clerk of the court finally offered to supply manuscript
copies of the decision at seven hundred and fifty dol-
lars each, but the indefatigable Cornelius Wendell suc-
ceeded in obtaining a copy and printed a large edition
in pamphlet form for gratuitous distribution.
JOHN BUCHANAN FLOYD was born in Montgomery County, Va., in 1805 ; was Governor of Vir-
ginia, 1850-1853 ; was Secretary of War under President Buchanan, 1857-1860- was a Confederate
brigadier-general, 1861-1863 ; died at Abingdon, Va., August z6th, 1863.
CHAPTER XLIL
DIPLOMACY SOCIETY, AND CIVIL SERVICE.
FOREIGN RELATIONS — LORD NAPIER, THE BRITISH MINISTER — SIR WIL-
LIAM GORE OUSELEY — SOCIETY IN WASHINGTON— A FASHIONABLE
PRETENDER— CIVIL SERVICE — OFFICE SEEKING— CHOATE'S HAND-
WRITING— THE GOVERNORS OF KANSAS.
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN was virtually his
own Secretary of State, although he had cour-
teously placed his defeated rival, General Cass,
at the head of the State Department. Nearly all of
the important diplomatic correspondence, however, was
dictated by Mr. Buchanan, who had, like Jefferson and
John Quincy Adams, served as Secretary of State, and
who was thoroughly versed in foreign relations. Gen-
eral Thomas, the Assistant Secretary of State, was
soon dismissed, and Mr. John Appleton was persuaded
to leave the editorial "chair of the Washington Union
and take his place.
The British Government, which had pleasant per-
sonal recollections of Mr. Buchanan, promptly sent
Lord Napier as Minister Plenipotentiary, no successor
to the dismissed Sir John Crampton having been
accredited during the Administration of President
Pierce. The new Minister was a Scotchman by birth,
slender in figure, with light hair and blue eyes, and
thoroughly trained in British diplomacy. He was an
•especial protege of Lord Palmerston, and Lord Claren-
520 Perley^s Reminiscences.
don Had placed the olive-branch, in his hand with his
instructions. The press of England proclaimed that
he had instructions to render himself acceptable to the
Government and the people of the United States, and
to do all in his power to promote kind feelings between
the two countries. Soon after he landed at New York
he made a speech at the annual dinner of the St.
George's Society, in which he repudiated the previous,
distrustful and vexatious policy of the British Foreign
Office toward the United States, and declared that the
interests of the two countries were so completely iden-
tified that their policy should never be at variance.
The claim by Great Britain of the right to search
vessels belonging to the United States which her naval
officers might suspect to be slave-traders, and the es-
tablishment of a British protectorate over the Mosquito-
coast, in defiance of the Monroe Doctrine, were knotty
questions. Lord Napier, evidently, was not capable of
conducting the negotiations on them in a manner sat-
isfactory to Lord Palmerston, who sent to Washington
as his adviser Sir William Gore Ouseley, a veteran dip-
lomat. He was not in any way accredited to the
United States Government, but was named Special
Minister to Central America, and stopped at Washing-
ton on his way there, renting the Madison House, on
Lafayette Square, and entertaining with great liber-
ality.
Sir William Gore Ouseley, who was a Knight Com-
mander of the Bath, had resided at Washington as an
attache to the British Legation forty years previously,
while Mr. Vaughan was Minister, and had then en-
tered personally into a treaty of permanent peace and
amity with the United States by marrying the daugh-
ter of Governor Van Ness, of Vermont. Miss Van
Leading Society. 521
Ness was a young lady of great beauty, residing at the
metropolis with her uncle, General Van Ness, at one
time the Mayor of Washington. Sir William after-
ward visited Persia as the historian of the embassy of
his uncle, Sir Gore Ouseley, and his published work
contained much new information in relation to that
then almost unknown portion of the world. He had
afterward been connected with the British Legations in
Spain, Brazil, and Buenos Ayres, and his acquaintance
with the Spanish race, language, and literature was
probably equal, if not superior, to that of any other
Englishman. He was the author of a valuable work
on the United States, and also of an expensive and
illustrated volume on the scenery of Brazil.
It was doubtless due to considerations such as these,,
the special acquaintanceship of this veteran diplomat
with the character, circumstances, and views of the
several nationalities involved in the difficulties to be
arranged, which had prevailed over mere political affin-
ities and induced his selection by Lord Palmers ton for
the errand on which he came to Washington. His
personal relations with Lord Napier were very friendly,
and Mr. Buchanan was the friend of both, having
known Lady Ouseley before her marriage. For some
months the Ouseleys were prominent in Washington
society. Lady Ouseley frequently had the honor of
being escorted by the President in her afternoon walks,
sometimes attended by her daughter, who wore the first
crimson balmoral petticoat seen in Washington. When
President Buchanan and Miss Lane took their summer
flight for Bedford Springs, the Ouseleys were their
traveling companions, sharing their private table, and
their entertainments at Washington were numerous
and expensive.
522
Per ley? s Reminiscences.
At one of these, Lady Ouseley wore a rich, blue bro-
cade trimmed with Honiton lace, with a wreath of blue
flowers upon her hair, fastened at each side by a dia-
mond brooch ; Miss Lane, the President's niece, wore a
dress of black tulle, ornamented with bunches of gold
leaves, and a head-dress of gold grapes ; Miss Cass, the
stately daughter of the Premier of the Administration,
was magnificently attired in pearl-colored silk, with
point-lace flounces , b ut
wore no jewelry of any
kind; Mrs. Brown, the
wife of the Postmaster-
General, wore a rich
pink silk dress, with
pink roses in her hair ;
Mrs. Thompson, the
wife of the Secretary
of the Interior, wore a
pink silk dress with
lace flounces, and a
head-dress of pink
flowers; Madame Sar-
tiges, the wife of the
French Minister, wore
a rich chene silk, and
was accompanied with her niece, dressed in pink tarla-
tan ; Madame Stoeckl, the wife of the Russian Minister,
looked as stately as a queen and beautiful as a Hebe
in a dress of white silk, with black lace flounces, cherry-
colored flowers, and gold beads ; Miss Schambaugh, of
Philadelphia, who was called the handsomest woman in
the United States,, wore a white-flounced tarlatan dress
trimmed with festoons of dark chenille, with a head-
dress of red japonicas ; Mrs. Pendleton, the wife of the
MISS HARRIET LANE.
How they Dressed.
523
Representative from the Cincinnati District, wore a
white silk skirt with a blue tunic trimmed with bright
colors ; Mrs. McQueen, the wife of a South Carolina
Representative, wore a rich black velvet, and Mrs.
Boyce, from the same State, wore a lilac silk dress
trimmed with black illusion ; Mrs. Sickles, wife of the
Representative from New York, wore a blue silk dress,
with rich point lace flowers, and was accompanied by
her mother, who wore
a lavender brocade
dress, woven with gold
and silver flowers, and
Miss Woodbury, a
daughter of the late
Judge Woodbury ,wore
a black tarlatan dress
over black silk, with
a head-dress of gilt
beads.
Among the gentle-
men present were Lord
Napier, Edward Eve-
rett, Secretary Thomp-
son, Senator Mason,
Representatives Keitt,
Miles, Boyce, McQueen, Clingman, and Ward; Cap-
tains Ringgold and Goldsborough, of the navy; Gen-
eral Harney and Colonel Hardee, of the army, and a
number of others.
The commencement of Mr.. Buchanan's Administra-
tion was distinguished by the number of social enter-
tainments given in Washington. It was then as in
Paris just before the Revolution of 1830, when Talley-
rand said to the crafty Louis Philippe, at one of his
SECRETARY J. THOMPSON.
524 Per ley^ s Reminiscences.
Palais Royal balls : " We are dancing on a volcano."1
The hidden fires of coming revolution were smoldering
at the Capitol ; but in the drawing-rooms of the me-
tropolis the Topeka Guelphs cordially fraternized with
the Lecompton Ghibellines night after night, very much
as the lawyers of Western circuits who, after having
abused each other all day in bad Bnglish, met at night
in the judge's room to indulge in libations of bad liquor.
Even when Lent came, instead of .going to church, in
obedience to the chimes of consecrated bells, society
kept on with its entertainments.
Among the most prominent houses were those of the
Postmaster-General, Mr. Aaron V. Brown, whose wife
was assisted by the daughter of her first marriage, Miss
Narcissa Sanders. At Secretary Thompson's a full-
length portrait of " Old Hickory," by Sully, kept watch
and ward of the refreshment table. The connected
houses occupied by Secretary Cass, afterward the Ar-
lington Hotel, were adorned with many rare works of
art, brought by him from the Old World. Senators
Gwin, of California, Thompson, of New Jersey, and
Clay, of Alabama, with Governor Aiken, of South
Carolina, also entertained frequently and generously.
At the supper-tables wild turkeys, prairie-hens, par-
tridges, quails, reed birds, chicken and lobster salads,
terrapin, oysters, ice-creams and confectionery were
furnished in profusion, while champagne, sherry, and
punch were always abundant.
Among choice bits of scandal then afloat was one
at the expense of a lady who prided herself on the
exclusiveness of the society which graced her salons.
A double-distilled-F.-F.-V., no one could obtain invi-
tations to her parties whose ecusson did not bear the
quartering of some old family, and thus these enter-
A Gallant Cook.
525
taiuments were accused of resembling the tournaments
of ancient times, to which the guests were led, not from
any prospect of amusement, but merely to prove their
right to ennuyer themselves en bonne compagnie. For-
eigners, however, were always welcome, and one of the
" pets," a romantic looking young Frenchman, who
was quite handsome and made a great sensation in
fashionable society, avoided the Legation as represen-
ting a usurper, and
therefore quite un-
worthy the atten-
tion of one like
himself, of the
"vieille roche."
The young man,
enveloping himself
somewhat in mys-
tery, assumed the
dignity of Louis
Quatorze in his
earlier days, and
his decisions on all
fashionable mat-
ters were law.
Where he lived no
one exactly knew,
as his letters were left in Willard's card-basket, but
his aristocratic protector persuaded Gautier to let her
look at the furnaces of his restaurant-kitchen, and
there — must it be said? — she found M. le Compte, in
white apron and paper cap, constructing a mayonnaise.
" This young man is my best cook," said Gautier, but
the lady did not wait to receive his salutations.
The wild hunt after office was kept up during the
A SURPRISING DISCOVERY.
AN ASSEMBLY IN BUCHANAN'S TERM.
Bad Penmanship.
527
summer and fall after Mr. Buchanan's inauguration,
fortunate men occasionally drawing place-prizes in the
Government lottery, One of the best jokes about
applicants for office was told at the expense of a Bos-
tonian, who presented, among other papers, a copy of
a letter to Mr. Buchanan from Rufus Choate, with a
note stating that he sent a copy because he knew that
the President could never decipher the original, and he
had left blanks for some words which he could not him-
self transcribe.
Governor Geary had returned from Kansas, dis-
gusted with the condition of things there, and had
been replaced as Governor by Robert ]. Walker, who
was expected to play the part of " wrong's redresser,"
as the Prince did in Verona when called to settle the
difficulties between the Montagues and the Capulets.
PETER FORCE was born at Passaic Falls, N. ]., November 26th, 1790; became a printer and jour-
nalist at Washington ; collected and published many volumes of American documentary history ;
was Mayor of Washington, 1836-1840; died at Washington, D. C., January 23d, 1868.
CHAPTER XLIII.
PRELUDE TO THE REBELLION.
ORGANIZATION OP THE SENATE— JOHN SLIDELL, OP LOUISIANA — SENA-
TOR DOUGLAS OPPOSES THE ADMINISTRATION — BEN WADE'S BON MOT
—MEETING OF THE HOUSE— ELECTION OF SPEAKER— INVESTIGATION
OF THE WOLCOTT ATTEMPT AT BRIBERY — DEBATES ON THE ADMISSION
OF KANSAS — NOCTURNAL ROW IN THE HOUSE — THE NORTH VICTORIOUS .
GENERAL THOMAS J. RUSK, United States
Senator from Texas, who had fought bravely
at the battle of San Jacinto, had committed
suicide during the summer. He had been elected
President pro tempore of the Senate, and the Senate
elected as his successor Senator Fitzpatrick, of Ala-
bama, a tall, fine-looking man, whose wife was a great
favorite in Washington society. He received twenty-
eight votes, Mr. Hamlin receiving nineteen votes, and
voting himself for Mr. Seward, which showed the Re-
publican strength in the Senate to be twenty.
The leader of the Southern forces in the Senate was
Mr. John Slidell, who was born in New York, but found
his way, when young, to New Orleans, where he soon
identified himself with the Creole population and be-
came noted as a political manager. His organization
of the colonization of the Plaquemine Parish, by a
steamboat load of roughs from New Orleans, secured
the defeat of Henry Clay in Louisiana and virtually
prevented his election as President. Wealthy, and
without conscientious scruples on political matters he
528
Oration by the Little Giant. 529
was well-fitted for the leading position in the formation
of the Southern Confederacy, which he obtained ; but
President Davis took good care to send him abroad,
knowing that if he could not rule the Confederacy he
would take the first occasion to ruin it. What he
lacked in positive intellect he more than made up in
prudence, industry, and energy. «
Mr. Seward claimed the lead of the Republican
Senators, but several of them were not disposed to
submit to his dictation. Among the Republican
recruits was Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan, who
had gone west early in life, and became a leading dry
goods merchant at Detroit, where he had won popu-
larity by his business ability, his generous public
spirit, and his genial nature. He was over six feet in
height, well proportioned, with light brown hair and
blue-gray eyes.
On the third day of the session Mr. Douglas gave
notice that he would the next afternoon define his posi-
tion on the Kansas question. The announcement
brought crowds to the Senate Chamber. Every Sena-
tor was in his seat ; every past or present dignitary
who could claim a right to " the floor " was there, and
the galleries were packed with spectators, Mrs. Doug-
las prominent among the fairer portion of them. The
"'Little Giant" was neatly dressed in a full suit of
black, and rose to speak at his seat, which was about in
the middle of the desks on the right of the President's
chair, where the Democrats sat. He spoke boldly and
decidedly, though with a studied courtesy toward the
President. There was a great difference between the
question of popular sovereignty as advocated by Mr.
Douglas, and the great question of human freedom for
which Mr. Sumner and other Representatives of North-
34
530
Perley*s Reminiscences.
ern sentiments were stoutly battling. After Mr. Doug-
las had concluded, Mr. Brown, of Mississippi, congratu-
lated Mr. Henry Wilson on the " new Republican
ally," and many other bitter things were said about
him by the Southrons, but the bon mot of the day was
by Senator Wade : " Never," said he, " have I seen a
slave insurrection before."
There was a large attendance at the organization of
the House, when the roll-
call showed that two hun-
dred and twenty-five were
present. Then Mr. Phelps
gracefully moved that the
House proceed to the elec-
tion of a Speaker, there-
by showing that he was
not a candidate. Mr. Jones
nominated James L. Orr,
of South Carolina ; Gov-
ernor Banks nominated
Galusha A. Grow ; and
H. W. Davis was nomi-
nated but withdrawn. The
election was then com-
menced vive voce, the clerk
calling the roll. Colonel Orr had one hundred and
twenty-eight votes, and was declared elected.
Governor Banks and A. H. Stephens were appointed
a committee to conduct the Speaker-elect to the chair.
He then delivered a brief, sensible address, after which
he was approached by the patriarchal Giddings, who
handed him a small Bible and administered the oath of
office, which duty devolves on the oldest Representative
The Sergeant-at-Arnis elevated his mace — that "bauble''
JOHN SLIDELL.
A Cheerful Prison. 531
of authority so distasteful to the Puritans — and the
Speaker began to swear in the members State by State.
Among investigations ordered was one into an alleged
attempt at bribery b}' Lawrence, Stone & Co.; when
the tariff bill was under consideration, which disclosed
the fact that they had paid fifty-eight thousand dollars
to Colonel Wolcott, who came to Washington as a rep-
resentative of the Massachusetts manufacturers. Col-
onel Wolcott, when brought before the House, declined
to make the desired revelations, and Ije was locked up
in the Washington Jail — a miserable old building.
Those Representatives .who were believed to have re-
ceived some of this money were naturally uneasy, and
undertook to intimate that the Colonel had pocketed
the whole of it. He philosophically submitted to the
decree of the House, occupying the jailer's sitting-room
— a cheerful apartment, with a good fire, bright sun-
shine coming in at the windows. He had numerous
visitors, his meals were sent him from a restaurant, and
he certainly did not appear to suffer seriously from his
martyrdom.
In the exciting debates on the admission 01 Kansas,
Senators Sumner, Wilson, Fessenden, and Seward were
positive in their denunciation of the use of Federal
troops for the enforcement of the laws, which encour-
aged the Southern Senators in their belief that the se-
cession of a State would not be forcibly opposed.
" The Senate," said Henry Wilson, " insists that the
President shall uphold this usurpation — these enact-
ments— with the bayonet. Let us examine the acts of
these usurpers which Senators will not repeal ; which
they insist shall be upheld and enforced by the sabres
of the dragoons." Said William H. Seward : " When
you hear me justify the despotism of the Czar of Rus-
532
Perley*s Reminiscences.
sia over the oppressed Poles, or the treachery by which
Louis Napoleon rose to a throne over the ruins of the
Republic in France, on the ground that he preserves
domestic peace among his subjects, then you may ex-
pect me to vote supplies of men and money to the
President that he may keep the army in Kansas."
Ben Wade was equally severe on the use of the army,
declaring " that the honorable business of a soldier had
been perverted to act
as a petty bailiff and
constable to arrest and
tyrannize over men."
The racket in the
House of Representa-
tives commenced with
a struggle as to wheth-
er the President's Mes-
sage or the Lecomp-
ton Constitution of
Kansas should be re-
ferred to the Demo-
cratic Committee on
Territories or to a se-
lect committee of fif-
teen. The session was
protracted into the night, and after midnight but few
spectators remained in the galleries. Those Repre-
sentatives who could secure sofas enjoyed naps be-
tween the roll-calls, while others visited committee-
rooms, in which were private supplies of refresh-
ments. About half-past one, Mr. Grow, of Pennsyl-
vania, then standing on the Democratic side of the
House, objected to General Quitman's making any re-
marks. " If you are going to object," shouted Mr.
HENRY WILSON.
INCIDENTS OF THE FIGHT BY NIGHT.
534 Per ley* s Reminiscences .
Keitt, of South Carolina, " return to your own side of
the hall." Mr. Grow responded : u This is a free hall,
and every man has a right to be where he pleases."
Mr. Keitt then came up to Mr. Grow and said : "I
want to know what you mean by such an answer as
that." Mr.. Grow replied: "I mean just what I say;
this is a free hall, and a man has the right to be where
he pleases." "Sir," said Mr. Keitt, "I will let you
know that you are a black Republican puppy." "Never
mind," retorted Mr. Grow, "I shall occupy such place
in this hall as I please, and no negro-driver shall crack
his whip over me." The two then rushed at each other
with clinched fists. A dozen Southerners at once has-
tened to the affray, while as many anti-Lecompton men
came to the rescue, and Keitt received — not from Grow,
however — a blow that knocked him down. Mr. Potter,
of Wisconsin, a very athletic, compactly built man,
bounded into the centre of the excited group, striking'
right and left with vigor. Washburne, of Illinois, and
his brother, of Wisconsin, also were prominent, and for
a minute or two it seemed as though we were to have
a Kilkenny fight on a magnificent scale. Barksdale
had hold of Grow, when Potter struck him a severe
blow, supposing that he was hurting that gentleman.
Barksdale, turning around and supposing it was Elihu
Washburne who struck him, dropped Grow, and struck
out at the gentleman from Illinois. Cadwallader Wash-
burne, perceiving the attack upon his brother, also made
a dash at Mr. Barksdale, and seized him by the hair,
apparently for the purpose of drawing him " into chan-
cery " and pommeling him to greater satisfaction.
Horrible to relate, Mr. Barksdale's wig came off in
Cadwallader's left hand, and his right fist expended it-
self with tremendous force against the unresisting air.
A Free Fight. 535
This ludicrous incident unquestionably did much
toward restoring good nature subsequently, and its
effect was heightened not a little by the fact that in the
excitement of the occasion Barksdale restored his wig
wrong-side foremost.
The Speaker shouted and rapped for order without
effect. The Sergeant-at-Arms stalked to 'the scene of
battle, mace in hand, but his " American eagle " had
no more effect than the Speaker's gavel. Owen Love-
joy and Lamar, of Mississippi, were pawing each other
at one point, each probably trying to persuade the
other to be still. Mr. Mott, the gray-haired Quaker
Representative from Ohio, was seen going here and
there in the crowd. Reuben Davis, of Mississippi, got
a severe but accidental blow from Mr. Grow, and
various gentlemen sustained slight bruises and
scratches. A Virginia Representative, who thought
Montgomery, of Pennsylvania, was about to " pitch in,"
laid his hand upon his arm to restrain him, and was
peremptorily ordered to desist or be knocked down.
Mr. Covode, of Pennsylvania, caught up a heavy stone-
ware spittoon, with which to "brain" whoever might
seem to deserve it, but fortunately did not get far
enough into the excited crowd to find an appropriate
subject for his vengeance; and all over the hall every-
body was excited for the time.
Fortunately, it did not last long, and no weapons
were openly displayed. When order was restored
several gentlemen were found to present an excessively
tumbled and disordered appearance, but there remained
little else to recall the excitement. Gentlemen of
opposite parties crossed over to each other to explain
their pacific dispositions, and that they got into a fight
when their only purpose was to prevent a fight. Mu-
536 Per iey 's Reminiscences.
tual explanations and a hearty laugh at the ludicrous
points of the drama were followed by quiet and a
return to business. It was finally agreed, about half-
past six o'clock on Sunday morning, that the Demo-
crats would permit a vote to be taken on Monday with-
out further debate, delay, or dilatory motion.
When Mr. Orr's mallet rapped the House to order
at noon on Monday, only six of the two hundred and
thirty-four Representatives were absent, and the gal-
leries were packed like boxes of Smyrna figs. Rev.
Dr. Sampson made a conciliatory prayer, the journal
was read, two enrolled bills were presented, and then
the Speaker, in an unusually earnest tone, stated the
question. Tellers had been ordered, and he appointed
Messrs. Buffinton, of Massachusetts, and Craige, of
North Carolina. " Is the demand for the previous
question seconded?"
The imposing form of BufHnton was soon seen
making his way down to the area before the Speaker's
table, where Craige met him. The two shook hands,
and there was then a quick obedience to the Speaker's
request that gentlemen in favor of the motion would
pass between the tellers. Father Giddings, crowned
with silvery locks, led the Republican host down to be
counted. Burlingame followed, and among others who
filed along were Henry Winter Davis, General Spinner,
John Sherman, General Bingham, Frank Blair, the
trio of Washburnes, Gooch, Schuyler Colfax, John
Covode, Governor Fenton, Senator Cragin, and burly
Humphrey Marshall. When all had passed between
the tellers Buffinton wheeled about and reported to the
Speaker, who announced the result rather hesitatingly:
" One hundred and ten in the affirmative. Those
opposed will now pass between the tellers."
Polling the House. 537
Then the Southern Democrats, with their Northern
allies, came trooping down, headed by the attenuated
Stephens. Dan Sickles and John Cochrane, who were
afterward generals in the Union armies, were then
allied with Zollicoffer, Keitt, and others, who fell in
the Confederate ranks, and there were so many of
them that the result appeared doubtful. At last it was
Mr. Craige's turn to report, and then all was silent as
the grave.
The Speaker's usually loud, clear voice hesitated as
he at last announced : u One hundred and four in the
negative. The ayes have it, and the demand for the
previous question is seconded. Shall the main ques-
tion be now put ?" The main question was next put,
and the vote by ayes and nays on a reference of the
Kansas question to the Committee on Territories, was
ayes, 113; nays, 114. Then came the vote on the
reference to a select committee of fifteen, and Speaker
Orr had to announce the result, ayes, 114; nays, in.
The North was at last victorious.
HOWBLL COBB was born at Cherry Hill, Ga., September 7th, 1815 ; graduated at Franklin College,
>834; was Representative from Georgia, 1843-1851 and 1855-1860; was chosen Speaker, 1849; was.
Governor of Georgia, 1851 ; was President of the Confederate Congress, 1861 ; died in New York-
city, October gth, 1868.
CHAPTER XUV.
POLITICIANS, AUTHORS AND HUMORISTS.
WADE, OP OHIO — JEFFERSON DAVIS, OF MISSISSIPPI— JOHNSON, OF AR-
KANSAS—ANTHONY, OF RHODE ISLAND— TROLLOPE, OF ENGLAND—
ONE OF MIKE WALSH'S JOKES— ALBERT PIKE'S WAKE— THE SONS OF
MALTA.
BLUFF BEN WADE, a Senator from Ohio, was
the champion of the North in the upper house
during the prolonged debates on the Kansas-
Nebraska Bill. Dueling had long been regarded as a
lost art in the Northern States, but Mr. Wade deter-
mined that he would accept a challenge should one be
sent him, or defend himself should he be attacked.
But no one either assaulted or challenged him, al-
though he gave his tongue free license.
One day Senator Badger spoke plaintively of slavery
from a Southern point of view. In his childhood, he
said, he was nursed by an old negro woman, and he
grew to manhood under her care. He loved his " old
black mammy," and she loved him. But if the oppo-
nents of the Kansas-Nebraska bill were triumphant,
and he wished to go to either of those Territories, he
could not take his " old black mammy " with him.
Turning to Mr. Wade, he exclaimed : " Surely, you
will not prevent me from taking my old black mammy
with me ?" " It is not," remarked the Senator from
Ohio, dryly, " that he cannot take his old black
533
A Future Leader.
539
mammy with him that troubles the mind of the Sena-
tor, but that if we make the Territories free, he cannot
sell the old black mammy when he gets her there."
The future leader of the Great Rebellion, Senator
Jefferson Davis, had then assumed the leadership of the
Southern Senators and their Northern allies. His best
friends were forced to admit that his bearing, even
AN OLD-TIME "MAMMY" IN HER OLD-TIME HOME.
toward them, had become haughty, and his manners
imperious. His thin, spare figure, his almost sorrow-
ful cast of countenance, composed, however, in an in-
variable expression of dignity, gave the idea of a body
worn by the action of the mind, an intellect supporting
in its prison of flesh the pains of constitutional dis-
ease, and triumphing over physical confinement and
54-O Perley^s Reminiscences.
affliction. His carriage was erect — there was a soldierly
affectation, of which, indeed, the hero of Buena Vista
gave evidence through his life, having the singular con-
ceit that his genius was military and fitter for arms
than for the council. He had a precise manner, and
an austerity that was at first forbidding ; but his voice
was always clear and firm. Although not a scholar in
the pedantic sense of the term, and making no pre-
tensions to the doubtful reputation of the sciolist, his
reading was classical and varied, his fund of illustra-
tion large, and his resources of imagery plentiful and
always apposite.
Senator Robert W. Johnson — " Bob Johnson," every
one called him — had made many friends while a mem-
ber of the House, and was one of the most popular
Senators. He was a man of generous feeling, honor-
able impulses, and a cheerful humor, which had en-
deared him to the homely backwoodsmen of his State.
He was a fine speaker, pouring forth fact and argument
with an earnestness that riveted attention, and lighting
up the dull path of logic with the glow of his captivat-
ing fancy, while he spiced his remarks with the idio-
syncrasies of frontier oratory, familiar and quaint illus-
trations, and blunt truths. At heart he loved the
Union, but he could not stand up against the public
sentiment of his State.
Henry Bowen Anthony was the first Republican
Senator who had not been identified with the Abolition-
ists. Before he had been a week in the Senate, he was
graciously informed that the Southern Senators recog-
nized him as a gentleman, and proposed to invite him
to their houses. . " I can enter no door," sturdily re-
plied the man of Quaker ancestry, " which is closed
against any Northern Senator." Mr. Anthony was at
Starting a Joke. 541
that time a very handsome man, with jet black hair,
blue eyes, and a singularly sweet expression of coun-
tenance. His editorial labors on the Providencey<?&r-
nal had given him a rare insight into men and politics,
which qualified him for Senatorial life. He was soon a
favorite in Washington society, wit and general infor-
mation embellishing his brilliant conversation, while
his social virtues gave to his life a daily beauty.
Ostensibly to negotiate a postal treaty, but really to
see what could be done about an international copy-
right between Great Britain and the United States,
came Anthony Trollope, Bsq. He. was a short, stout
old gentleman, with a round, rosy face and snow-white
hair, who loved to talk, and who talked well. His
mother, Mrs. Frances Trollope, had written a cruelly
sarcastic book on the manners and customs of Ameri-
cans in 1830, and he was somewhat dogmatic in his
criticisms of what he saw and heard. He shone es-
pecially at gentlemen's evening parties, at which he
narrated anecdotes about Macaulay, Dickens, and
Thackeray, and of his own exploits in " 'unting,"
which he regarded as the noblest of all pastimes.
Mike Walsh was not only a demagogue, but an in-
corrigible joker. He used frequently to visit Wash-
ington after the expiration of his Congressional term,
and was in the city after the close of the summer session
of the Thirty-fifth Congress. Judge Douglas was also
there, busily engaged in advancing his Presidential
prospects. One evening, as Walsh was sitting in front
of the Kirkwood House, he remarked that the weather
looked threatening, but that he hoped it would prove
good on account of the serenade that was to be given
to Judge Douglas that night. The thing took at once,
and he visited all the hotels, and in casual conversa-
542 Per 'ley "s Reminiscences.
tions broached the serenade, and the fact that the
Marine Band had been engaged for the occasion.
When ten o'clock p. M. came there were not less than
six or seven hundred people in front of Judge Douglas's
new residence ; and as the streets had been newly
opened and were still unpaved, the niud was ankle-
deep. There were also some thirty or forty hacks and
a number of private carriages ; and as the Judge and
his beautiful and accomplished wife had heard of the
intended ovation, they had prepared for the emergency
by taking up the parlor carpets and setting out a col-
lation for the sovereigns. But, alas ! no Marine Band
appeared ; and as eleven o'clock came and no music,
the crowd began slowly to thin out, until at last it got
whispered around that Mike Walsh had something to
do with the getting up of the serenade, when, amid
curses and loud guffaws, there was a general stampede
of the crowd.
In the midst of the stormy debates at the Capitol,
there was an entertainment where men of both sections
fraternized. It was a "wake" at the house of Mr.
John Coyle, the cashier of the National Intelligencer,
whose Milesian blood had prompted him to pay Hi-
bernian honors to the memory of one who had often
been his guest. The funereal banquet had been post-
poned, however, in true Irish style, when it had been
ascertained that the deceased was not dead, and in due
time the guests were again invited, to honor him whom
they had mourned — Albert Pike, of Arkansas. There
he was, with stalwart form, noble features, waving hair,
and a patriarchal beard — at once the Kit North and the
Korner of America.
After a neat welcome by the host, uprose the erudite
dignitary of the State Department, and he read, in
A Jolly Wake.
deep, full tones, an obituary sketch of the supposed de-
ceased, which he had prepared upon the receipt of the
sad news. Pike's remarks, in reply, were touchingly
beautiful, especially when he expressed his delight at
having read kind notices of himself from those whom
he had feared were his -enemies, and his hopes that all
enmity between him and his fellow-men might remain
buried in that tomb to which he had been consigned
THE WAKE AT COYLE'S-RESPONSE OF THE CORPSE.
Jack Savage then sang a song (to the tune of "Benny
Havens, O!"), describing a forced visit of "the fine
Arkansas gentleman" to the Stygian shore, where he
craved permission of Pluto to return to earth for one
night at Coyle's :
" ' Are you not dead ? ' the King then said. ' Well, what of that ?' said
he,
' If I am dead, I've not been waked, and buried dacently.'
544 Perley^s Reminiscences.
' And why,' the monarch cried, ' desire again to share life's toils?'
' For the sake of one good frolic more, even at Johnny Coyle's.'
One spree at Johnny Coyle's ; one spree at Johnny Coyle's ;
And who would not be glad to join a spree at Johnny Coyle's ?"
Pluto then enumerated the good cheer and good com-
pany, and " Horace and Anacreon in vain would have
him stay." But the gentleman from Arkansas demon-
strated that they were all surpassed at Johnny Coyle's.
The recital of the genial qualities of various gentlemen
named enlisted Prosperine, who urged Pluto to let him
go, that he might return, bringing his friends with him.
" And so the Queen at last prevailed, as women always do,
And thus it comes that once again this gentleman's with you ;
He's under promise to return, but that he means to break,
And many another spree to have besides the present wake.
One spree at Johnny Coyle's, etc."
This song was followed by a story, and tnat story by
a song, and it was nearly daylight in the morning be-
fore the guests separated.
GBORGB BANCROI»T was born at Worcester, Mass., October 3d, 1800; graduated at Harvard
College, 1817; was Secretary of the Navy under President Polk, 1845-1846; was Minister to Great
Britain, 1846^1849 ; to Prussia, 1867-1871 ; to Germany, 1871-1874.
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